With all due respect to Jimmy Carter, as far as modern presidents go, it’s hard to imagine there’d be anyone more fun to party with than Barack Obama. And Bono has now confirmed this.
As The New York Post reported, based on an interview the U2 frontman did with BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday, Barack makes a mean cocktail. “He mixes cocktails,” Bono explained of the president/mixologist, though noted that “he doesn’t have too many, he’s very measured.” The singer also revealed that after throwing back some “strong cocktails” at the White House, he was later discovered quietly taking a quick nap in the Lincoln Bedroom by his wife, activist Ali Hewson, and the 44th president.
According to The New York Post, Bono is allergic to salicylates, a group of chemicals that are found in many fruits, vegetables, and spices, including grapes, which can make red wine a bit of a problem for the artist. And red wine just happened to be on the menu that night, which can apparently cause the Irish singer’s “head to swell up like a balloon” and usually causes him to just “fall asleep somewhere.” (Emphasis on somewhere.)
“I ended up slipping out for a kip and the president said to Ali after about 10 minutes, ‘Where’s Bono gone?,’” Bono recalled of the evening. When Hewson told the president that her husband had “just gone for a sleep,” Obama was apparently confused. “He has to, he just has to go for these sleeps, he’ll be back in 10 minutes,” Hewson promised. “I’ve been with him for 30 years, don’t you worry a thing about him, Mr. President. I’ll go find him.’”
But Obama apparently insisted on accompanying Hewson on her spousal scavenger hunt around the White House, where they eventually found Bono sleeping soundly. “There I was in Lincoln’s bedroom, asleep, fallen asleep in the bosom of Abraham himself,” Bono explained. “He just woke me up and laughed. [The] president laughed his head off.”
Bono admitted that it wasn’t the first or only time he’s taken a nap in an awkward place: “I’ve fallen asleep in really awkward spots,” he said. “The lighting desk of Sonic Youth – they mixed around me and couldn’t be nicer.”
He also noted that it’s an incident Obama has never let him forget — though Bono swears that the former president’s heavy pour is partly to blame. “[Obama] does tell people that he drinks me under the table, he doesn’t believe the allergy thing,” Bono said. “He does make strong cocktails, though. Just saying.”
(Via The New York Post)