White House Won't Ban Selfies, Despite Obama/Ortiz Snafu

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Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, left, signs autographs for fans before a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, April 6, 2014, in Boston.

Image: Steven Senne/Associated Press

By Todd Wasserman2014-04-07 19:35:44 UTC

The White House has apparently done an about-face on selfies.

During an interview on Face the Nation Sunday morning, White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the Red Sox's David Ortiz's selfie with President Obama may usher in a new policy. Ortiz had just signed a deal with Samsung prior to the April 1 selfie, which Samsung later retweeted.

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“Well, [President Obama] obviously didn't know anything about Samsung's connection to this,” Pfeiffer said. "And perhaps maybe this will be the end of all selfies.”

Pfeiffer's statement came after White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Thursday that the White House objected to commercial use of the image. “As a rule, the White House objects to attempts to use the president’s likeness for commercial purposes,” Carney said. “And we certainly object in this case.”

However, on Monday, White House Spokesman Carney said no selfie veto is in the works, and that Pfeiffer's comment was meant to be humorous.

It's not the first misunderstanding to come out of Selfiegate; Ortiz has denied that the selfie was part of his deal with Samsung.

“I don’t understand where that stuff is coming from," he told The Boston Globe . “That was one of those things that just happened. I gave him the jersey, and the photographers were going to take their pictures and I thought, really at the last second, maybe I should snap a shot with my phone while I have the chance ... It had nothing to do with no deals.”

Ortiz's marketing rep, Alex Radetsky, president and founder of Radegen Sports Management, echoed Ortiz's sentiment: "It certainly was not part of the deal. It was spontaneous on his part," Radetsky said. "I hate to be clichéd, but it was just David being David."

At the time of writing, Ortiz's selfie, taken with a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, has been retweeted more than 42,000 times.

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Topics: Business, David Ortiz, Marketing, Barack Obama, selfies, White House