Former President Obama burnished his “Renegades” credentials on Monday by telling Bruce Springsteen that he once broke a basketball teammate’s nose over a racial slur.
The nation’s 44th president — now a “Renegades” podcast co-host on Spotify with the famous singer — earned kudos for his fists of fury.
“Listen, when I was in school. I had a friend. We played basketball together,” Mr. Obama said Monday. “And one time we got into a fight and he called me a c—. … It’s one of those things where he might not even [have] known what a c— was. What he knew was, ’I can hurt you by saying this.’ And I remember, I popped him in the face and broke his nose. We were in the locker room and suddenly blood’s pouring down.”
“The Boss” approved.
“Well done,” Mr. Springsteen replied.
Mr. Obama explained his teammate’s psychology at the time as follows: “I may be poor. I may be ignorant. I may be mean. I may be ugly. I may not like myself. I may be unhappy. But you know what I’m not? I’m not you.”
The podcast was the second of eight planned between the men.
Mr. Obama and former first lady Michelle spearheaded the project through their production company Higher Ground.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.