Playboy in 2013, the actor Samuel L. Jackson, who’d backed Obama in both his presidential bids, accused him of “promoting mediocrity” by sounding less educated than he was. “[S]top trying to ‘relate,’ ” Jackson said. “Be a leader. Be fucking presidential. Look, I grew up in a society where I could say ‘It ain’t’ or ‘What it be’ to my friends. But when I’m out presenting myself to the world as me, who graduated from college, who had family who cared about me, who has a well-read background, I fucking conjugate.” When the star of Snakes on a Plane accuses you of dumbing things down, attention
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