Joke About President Bombs At Turlock Chamber Event

TURLOCK (CBS13) - They say the best way to warm up a crowd is with a joke, but here at a Chamber of Commerce event on Friday, a joke didn't go so well.

Turlock businessman Marty Jakosa was looking to loosen up the crowd as he emceed the chamber's Best of Turlock event.

Chamber president Sharon Silva was on stage with Jakosa, the mayor and plenty of other high-profile people.

"It was obvious the joke was not appropriate," Silva said. "We were there to honor the people of this community who have given so much."

The joke began with Jakosa talking about President Obama following in the steps of past presidents such as Washington and Jefferson.

It went sour though when Jakosa got to Lincoln.

"Is that it? How about you be like Abe Lincoln and go to a play?" Jakosa said as the crowd gasped. "That's a cute joke."

Jakosa may have thought it was cute, but some say a joke about killing the president just isn't funny.

"He's our president," David Boulos said. "We respect that and we honor that."

This comes after a November incident that got worldwide attention where a Turlock Cold Stone Creamery manager called the president the n-word on her Facebook page and said maybe he would get assassinated.

Jakosa emailed an apology to the chamber. In the apology, he wrote wrote: "I exercised extremely poor judgment and I would never purposely disrespect the office of the President of the United States."

He didn't respond to CBS13 requests for comment.

Silva hopes Turlock can move on.

"It's really sad in my heart because I don't want this community to have any blemishes," she said.