Organizers at the Republican Leadership Conference reportedly cut short a performance by Barack Obama impersonator Reggie Brown on Saturday following a series of "racially-tinged" jokes about the president. (Example: "My favorite month is February, Back History Month. See Michele, she celebrates the whole month. I only celebrate half"). On Monday, Brown defended his act and pushed back against the suggestion he was yanked early during an appearance on MSNBC and in an interview with CNN.com.

In the CNN interview, Brown refuted the notion he was cut off prematurely. The real story, according to Brown, went something like this:

"What happened is that I went over my minutes. They told me I had 20, but they aired a video before me and then my intro took up more time. When our liaison—they guy who introduced me–came up to me onstage, he said, “Hey, I am sorry—your time is up," and so I finished and went backstage. I was told it was because of my time, not my act, not because of anything I said."

He repeated the time-constraint explanation during a sometimes in-character appearance on MSNBC this morning, adding that the performance didn't cause any problems in rehearsal and that his jokes about the 2012 GOP presidential field also weren't a problem."That's my material," he said, "that's what I do." Also, he says he got paid in full.

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Ray Gustini