US President Barack Obama gave an interview to comedian Marc Maron on the popular podcast show WTF podcast. The show is generally recorded in Maron's garage, and this time was no different. The President of the United States sat in a garage and gave an interview to Marc Maron. 

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Obama spoke on various issues, including his book Dreams From My Father, answered personal questions and questions asked about the Charleston Church attack.

Unfortunately, the only thing that is now being talked about from the interview is the use of the 'n-word' by the President. 

To emphasise on the fact that racism is not completely erased in the country, Obama said, "Racism-- we’re not cured of it. It's not just a matter of it not being polite to say [n-word] in public. That's not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It's not just a matter of overt discrimination."

He also said in the interview that the United States has made progress on race in the past 50 years but the legacy of slavery still casts a shadow.

"Societies don't just overnight completely erase everything that happened two to three hundred years prior," Obama said.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, at a daily briefing with reporters on Monday, said Obama intended to be provocative by using the word and to illustrate a larger point. 

"I would acknowledge that the way the president designed his argument in this scenario is more provocative," Earnest said, making clear that Obama did not regret his word choice. 

Marc Maron, in an interview to uproxx.com said taking the word out of context is sort of a disservice. 

"...There’s a brush fire of press excitement over decontextualizing the “N-word” and using it for clickbait and provoking people....The context of what he said was very specific, and to take it out of context is sort of a disservice to the larger point. So, I’m not surprised that it happened, but he used the word to make a point about the word, and about the conversation around the word. Politely not using the word doesn’t indicate that racism is over. If you take something out of context, it’s going to get people all worked up."

Obama used the word multiple times in his pre-presidential autobiography “Dreams from My Father”. As president, Obama has been less provocative on race.

The responses coming from various quarters on this issue vary. Some say that the President was not wrong in using the racial epithet while some say that the POTUS, like everyone else, should not have used the word that is banned in the country.

In an interview to CNN, Jabari Asim, who wrote "The N Word: Who Can Say it, Who Shouldn't, and Why," said that Obama was "correct in his instincts" in using the word.

"It's disingenuous to have a discussion about racism and not point to the language of racism....But, he needs to address the idea that white people need to have a conversation about race among themselves. It's the silent majority of white people who benefit from privilege and that needs to be topic one" Asim said, adding that Obama also used the word in his memoir.

As per a Politico report, Reverend Al Sharpton-- an Obama confidant said he understands why his friend chose to use the word. He said in debating about if the word ought to be used or not, people are missing out on the larger picture.

“Some of the reaction is racist. Because they’re discussing this like it’s something that shouldn’t be discussed, which in itself is biased,” Sharpton was quoted in the report. But he further added, "Let’s not act like he used the n-word in a sanitized way. He used it in the way it was meant to be used, which is as a racist, negative word."

According to reports, a Fox News journalist called President Obama a 'rapper-in-chief' for his comment.

Deneen Borelli, who is black, said that using the n-word was divisive. She further added that the President failed to mention the efforts made by blacks and whites in the country to come together after the tragedy.

"He has really dragged in the gutter-speak of rap music," she said. "So now he's the first President of rap, of street? I mean, come on, he has lowered the stature of the high office of the President of the United States....Here you have the president making this insane crazy comment of using the N-word to really distract. This is all a grand distraction to take away from the people uniting and then the President In Chief, the rapper-in-chief now, is further dividing our country," she said. "I find it outrageous."