The Day Snoop Dogg Took Presidential Puffery to New Heights
In July 2014, while filming an episode of his YouTube show “GGN: Double G News Network,” Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., known professionally as Snoop Dogg, recounted a historic moment in American politics. According to the rapper, he smoked marijuana in the White House restroom during a visit. The claim was made with the same level of casual concern one might express about trying the potato salad at a barbecue.
Snoop described the event as occurring while he was visiting for an undisclosed reason. When the urge to relieve himself overtook him, he asked a member of the White House staff whether he could use the bathroom. Snoop alleges he was told yes, but only under the condition that it would have to be a number one and not a number two. This ambiguous instruction, he took as an open invitation to light up a joint.
To sidestep official scrutiny, he reportedly disguised the act by pretending to light a napkin. As Snoop explained, “In the bathroom, I said: ‘May I use the bathroom for a second?’ And they said, ‘What are you gonna do, number one or number two?’ I said, ‘Number two.’ So I said, ‘Look, when I do the number two, I usually have a cigarette or do a little something while I’m doing it, you know what I’m saying?’ They said, ‘Well, you know, what?’ I said, ‘I’ll do a napkin.’ So I had a napkin in my hand, and I lit the napkin.’”
It is worth noting that this story was not corroborated by White House officials or independently verified, but it joins the pantheon of public statements from celebrities that exist in the liminal space between autobiography and performance art.
Whether true or merely true in spirit, the tale aligns with the broader arc of Snoop Dogg’s career, one in which federally illegal activity is casually braided into state-sanctioned environments. He has since gone on to partake in other national traditions, such as narrating nature documentaries, posting cookery videos with Martha Stewart, and becoming a goodwill ambassador for the sport of hockey.
America, a land of paradoxes, has seldom seen a figure embody its contradictions so fluidly. From Long Beach Crip to White House restroom renegade, Snoop Dogg’s journey continues to exemplify the American Dream—provided that dream smells faintly of high-grade cannabis.