By Jay Anderson

A minor kerfuffle occurred during this weekend’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. No, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty didn’t duke it out in a back alley. That woulda been news. However, the party got itself into some hot water when an Obama impersonator made some jokes that many have were deemed racist and homophobic:

A Barack Obama impersonator got the hook at this weekend’s Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

Event organizers escorted comedian Reggie Brown from the stage after he made racially tinged jokes about Obama, and mocked some of the Republican presidential candidates. “My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian,” Brown said at a one point, employing Obama’s voice and gestures.

Brown also joked that Obama celebrates only half of African-American History Month. In discussing how the presidency ages its occupants, Brown flashed a photo of comedian Redd Foxx in his 1970s television role as junkman Fred Sanford.

Here’s an excerpt from the routine:

I’ll be perfectly honest, I didn’t find the jokes to be all that offensive. Lame, yes — but racist? Not really. Jokes about Obama’s multiracial heritage have been fair game for years (he even once caught flack for referring to himself as a “mutt”), and while comparing the First Lady to Aunt Ester is tasteless, again, it’s not terribly offensive.

Getting caught up on how offensive this skit was would overshadow three full days of a convention that were chock full of outlandish nonsense. There was Michelle Bachman, lying (again) about Obama calling for Israel to return to 1967 borders. Herman Cain bastardizing MLK’s “I Have A Dream” speech and repeating his self loathing “plantation” analogy for the 82,291st time. Newt Gingrich promising to eliminate an entire federal Circuit Court of Appeals for ruling against prayer in public schools. Again, there was plenty of crazy to go around. Brown was merely the cherry atop the sundae.

The funny thing here is that the event’s organizers didn’t actually pull Brown until he started making jokes about the GOP Presidential aspirants. Had they been a bit less sensitive about jokes at their own expense, this story would have never gone viral. Then again, if I paid a guy to come to my house, and he started talkin’ smack about my family, he’d probably get the boot too. So I sorta get it. I guess.

Note to the GOP: Vet your Obama impersonators better next time. If you are going to use them as often as you do, it will be worth the effort.

Jay Anderson is a freelance writer from Washington, DC, whose work has been featured in the Washington Post, AOL Black Voices, The Loop21 and NPR. When he’s not busy talking smack here, he runs the award-winning blog AverageBro.com. Follow him via Twitter @AverageBro.