Obama: Jason Collins Is 'Still Seven Foot Tall And Can Bang With Shaq'

During a press conference, President Barack Obama praised Jason Collins heroic coming out by stating that he was "very proud" of the NBA player. After personal conversing with Collins about his decision to come out as the first gay athlete, Obama seemed to have nothing but praise for the Washington Wizards player.

Collins, came out in a cover story published Monday by Sports Illustrated, his announcement is monumental because he is the first openly gay male professional athlete currently playing in a major sport.

Chris Broussard, ESPN Reporter, Calls Homosexuality A 'Sin' While Discussing Jason Collins On TV [VIDEO]

While Obama was expressing his support he encountered a blunder that turned the President's praise into an uncomfortable situation. While the sentiment of the statement was genuine, Obama's word choice seemed to only incite puns and jokes. The President stated, "And given the importance of sports in our society for an individual who's excelled at the highest levels in one of the major sports to go out and say, 'This is who I am, I'm proud of it, I'm still a great competitor, I'm still seven foot tall and can bang with Shaq."

To use the term "bang with Shaq" while describing Collins' coming out caused nothing but disrespectful backlash. While we know that Obama didn't mean to create a pun that went viral in seconds on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, even sports analysts are questioning the comparison between Collins and Shaq. When Shaq's impressive statistics are compared to Collins, the number just don't add up.

When Obama used the word 'bang' while discussing Collins' basketball play even the newsroom let out a few chuckles. We are just hoping Obama uses some different diction next time.

Check out the video of Obama's press conference below:

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