White House not commenting on rodeo controversy

The White House isn’t saying much about a State Fair event in which a rodeo clown riled up the crowd as a bull chased a masked man imitating President Barack Obama.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest says he had no reaction from Obama. But he says that personally, as a native of Missouri, “It was certainly not one of the finer moments in our state.”

Missouri’s elected officials have denounced Saturday’s rodeo clown act as disrespectful.

The event featured a man wearing an Obama mask with an upside down broomstick attached to his backside who was positioned on the arena’s dirt floor as if he were a dummy. Another clown drew cheers from the audience as he asked if they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull.”