NEW YORK - An obscenity-laced video of a city councilman kicking a Norwegian interviewer out of his office has drawn a bigger audience than he's ever had at City Hall.
The video of New York City Councilman James Oddo and a woman using the fake interview format made famous by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G character has been viewed more than 415,000 times since it went up on YouTube just a few days ago.
The Staten Island council member is first seen in the 96-second clip welcoming Pia Haraldson of the Norwegian comedy show into his office.
After she asks some bizarre questions about Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton - including how Obama, as an African American, can run for president if he's not a U.S. citizen - he demands that she leave his office in a burst of profanity.
Oddo has apologized for his language but not for getting angry.
"My language was inappropriate, I'm apologetic for it, I regret it," Oddo told local channel NY-1.
"I don't regret the sentiment."
More world Headlines »
- Gore: Nobel Prize win shows climate change a 'planetary emergency'
- Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore said he will use the recognition of winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize to 'change the world's consciousness' about the challenges of global warming.
- Germany extends 3,000-strong Afghan mission
- Germany's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to extend the deployment of its nearly 3,000 troops in Afghanistan for another year.
- Putin says U.S. missile defence plan risks relations with Moscow
- In a tense start to talks on a range of thorny issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned U.S. officials to back off a plan to install missile defences in eastern Europe or risk harming relations with Moscow.
- Suspect in 1970s rapes is arrested in Nevada
- U.S. Marshals have arrested a Nevada man suspected of sexually assaulting 11 girls in Alberta and British Columbia in the 1978 and 1979.
- French billionaire named art world's most powerful figure
- French billionaire Francois Pinault, who owns Christie's auction house and has a private art collection with some of the biggest names in art, tops this year's ArtReview Power 100, a list of the most powerful people in the art world.
