Did Barack Obama call Jessica Simpson fat?

Washington, Feb 3 (ANI): A comment that U.S. President Barack Obama had made about Jessica Simpson in an interview with Matt Lauer has left many wondering whether he called her fat.

During the interview, Obama was shown a copy of US Magazine, and told that the editors had cut him out of the cover photo with his wife and daughters to make room for Simpson.

In the upper right-hand corner of the cover was a photo of a curvier Simpson, and the headline: "Weight Battle."

When Lauer pointed it out to him, he joked that it was painful and added the headline to his statement.

However, it did not sit well with the ladies, and they thought the new president was quite insensitive.

"Barack Obama may be the most eloquent politician on the scene today, but he laid a big one in yesterday's interview with Matt Lauer," Politico.com quoted Karen Tumulty at Time's Swampland blog as having written.

But it now turns out that the commander-in-chief had said something entirely different from the NBC transcript.

Upon reviewing the videotape shows, Obama could be seen and heard describing Simpson as someone "who's in a weight battle", clearly showing that he was reading the headline on the cover of the magazine. (ANI)