Obama Turned Down Some Major Publicity (& It Suggests His Ego Is Stronger Than Trump's)

Ben Stiller revealed that Barack Obama turned down a small part on a popular TV show. During his March 3 "Jimmy Kimmel Live" appearance, Stiller said a voiceover role in "Severance" that eventually went to Keanu Reeves was initially pitched to the former POTUS. "I didn't ask him in person. I knew someone who knew his lawyer," said Stiller, who is an executive producer and director of the Apple TV+ series. The "Zoolander" star sent an email to Obama about the voiceover gig for the "Lumon is Listening" stop-motion-animation video featured in the Season 2 premiere. "Two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama saying, 'Hey, Ben. Big fan of the show ... Don't think I have time in my schedule to make this happen,'" Stiller recalled. Had he accepted the offer, Obama would have voiced the Lumon building.

That wasn't the first time the team behind "Severance" considered Obama for a part. Leading up to the 2022 Emmys, Dan Erickson, a producer on the series, said he was hoping the two-time president would be in attendance. "If he is [there] I'm going to see if he wants a role on this show," Erickson told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2022.

Once news of Stiller's swing-and-a-miss made the rounds, "Severance" fans discussed why Obama couldn't find time to do a quick voiceover. "He prolly had the time but just didn't wanna set a precedent and have a million people sending him stuff to do in the future," one X, formerly Twitter, user wrote. Others wondered why Stiller's plan B didn't involve another POTUS. "Notice how he didn't ask donald trump," another person tweeted. Trump actually has an acting career that's fairly substantial, which shows the difference between how he and Obama view the limelight.

Barack Obama won an Emmy for narrating the Netflix docuseries "Our Great National Parks" — which would have made him perfect for the "Severance" voiceover role — but he does not appear to be a fan of appearing in front of the camera. A quick glance at his IMDb shows his reluctance to act in projects. Donald Trump, on the other hand, has gone to great lengths to appear on film.

In fact, Trump's "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" cameo came about on his insistence that he appear in the classic 1992 Christmas comedy. The film's director, Chris Columbus, spoke about how Trump forced his way into the movie back when he was best-known as a real estate tycoon. Columbus and crew wanted to film in Trump Plaza, but that came with a caveat. In a December 2020 interview with Insider, Columbus recalled Trump telling him, "The only way you can use the Plaza is if I'm in the movie." Initially, the plan was to film the future president but leave the scene on the cutting room floor. That changed after a test screening. "People cheered when Trump showed up on-screen. So I said to my editor, 'Leave him in the movie,'" Columbus recalled. "But he did bully his way into the movie," the director added.

Perhaps enjoying the reaction he received from the "Home Alone 2" part, Trump continued to pursue high-profile cameos. He made a brief appearance on Season 2 of "Sex and the City" in 1999 when he shot a glance at Kim Cattrall's Samantha after finishing up a business lunch. A couple of years later, Trump made a pass at Elizabeth Hurley on a 2001 episode of "The Job."