Simon Ateba is a Cameroonian journalist who is the chief White House correspondent for Today News Africa, a small publication dealing with the intersection of U.S. and African politics. Heās reportedly been in the White House press briefing room for months without being allowed to ask a question.
Out of frustration, he blew up at White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a media briefing last week which involved the cast of Apple TV+ dramedy āTed Lasso.ā The scene went viral and suddenly, Ateba and his publication were very much in the spotlight.
But, do you know who Google thinks Simon Ateba is? Karine Jean-Pierre.
So, a bit of background: Last week, Jason Sudeikis and other cast members from the hit soccer (or āfootball,ā for those of you unlucky enough not to be born in a country where āImmaculate Reception,ā āHail Mary Pass,ā āHelmet Catchā and āThe Minnesota Miracleā are part of the sporting vernacular) show were in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room with the Notorious KJP to promote mental health for reasons I still cannot fathom.
Before the briefing could begin, however, an aggrieved Mr. Ateba interrupted the proceedings. You see, heās been trying to get a word in edgewise during the entire Biden administration; in November, he lambasted Jean-Pierre by saying she ācall on the same people every single time,ā and in December, she stormed out after he repeatedly tried to ask a question about the U.S.-Africa Summit.
Well, instead of waiting to be called on, this time he decided to ā excuse the pun ā lasso Jean-Pierreās attention before she could get going:
āYouāre making a mockery of the First Amendment!ā Ateba cried as the āTed Lassoā folks looked more than a little discomfited.
Ateba was eventually quieted down, and Jean-Pierre asked the room, āAre we ready? Are we going to behave?ā
Well, at least for the rest of the day, yes. However, itās worth noting that Ateba, who hasnāt been granted a question in seven months, is currently suing the White House Correspondents Association āsince they made false claims against me and my company and did not abide by their own membership guidelines.ā
According to Fox News, his membership in the WHCA is being revoked; the group said the revocation has to deal with his behavior and qualifications, while Ateba said it has to do with his willingness to ask Jean-Pierre tough questions.
āI will fight like hell because as they sit in the briefing room collecting salaries, they donāt know there are people like me who build companies from scratch. Pray for me,ā he wrote in a tweet earlier this month.
So anyway, we know who this guy is, right? A simple Google search should turn up his picture. I mean, itās the most powerful search engine there is and Simon Ateba isnāt an unknown.
Yeah, not so much:
According to a tweet from Ateba, a picture of Karine Jean-Pierre is what he found when he searched his own name. Not even the same gender. If Google is indeed going to be our digital Big Brother, itās got a ways to go.
Now, to be fair, these pictures were tweeted on Tuesday. By Wednesday, a search for Ateba did, indeed, turn up a picture of the journalist. And, for what itās worth, the contretemps provided Ateba the ability to air his grievances with the administration.
āSo what has been happening in the White House is in the past seven months, Iāve done all the right things. Iāve not been called on. Iāve gone to office to seek meetings. She said that she would meet with me next year,ā he told Tucker Carlson in an interview on Fox News on March 20.
šŗ Embedded media ā coming soon
āIāve sent questions about the Nigerian election, about, you know, the problems, challenges in Africa. And theyāve not called on me. Even as the vice president is going to Africa, even as the first lady, Jill Biden, went to Africa, even when they receive 50 African leaders for the U.S. African summit in Washington, D.C. The guy who covers the White House, the African guy who covered the White House, is looked down upon in the greatest country in the world, in the most advanced country, where freedom of speech is protected.ā
Well, most advanced country? Not exactly. Just ask Google, after all.
Perhaps this was a way of protesting the fact that Ateba is a fly in the ointment of the White House. This is what the media is supposed to look like. The Trump administration wasnāt all that long ago. Remember those media briefings? There were no happy-clappy āTed Lassoā moments back then. Jim Acosta and Yamiche Alcindor became folk heroes less for being fair and accurate White House correspondents than for being Orange Man-seeking missiles, set to destroy every time they were able to fire.
Call this a stunt ā but my guess is that Ateba sticks around a bit longer and gets a few more questions in, if just out of abject embarrassment on the White Houseās part.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.