Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is questioning the judgment of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama for allowing their children to listen to Beyoncé.
The potential 2016 GOP presidential contender, who ended his Fox cable show on Jan. 3 to actively consider a run, said he cannot understand how the Obamas allow their children to be exposed to the lyrics and choreography of Beyoncé when they are otherwise so careful about their parenting.
The Obamas "are excellent and exemplary parents in many ways,"
Huckabee told People Magazine in an interview about his new book
"God, Guns, Grits and Gravy."
"That's the whole point. I don't understand how on one hand they can be such doting parents and so careful about the intake of everything – how much broccoli they eat and where they go to school and making sure they're kind of sheltered and shielded from so many things – and yet they don't see anything that might not be suitable for either a preteen or a teen in some of the lyrical content and choreography of Beyoncé, who has sort of a regular key to the door" of the White House.
Beyoncé, Jay Z, and their daughter, Blue Ivy, visited the White House in January to attend Michelle Obama's 50th birthday party, and the first lady has taken her girls to several Beyoncé concerts, People said. She was also featured at the president's inauguration in 2013.
Huckabee criticizes the singer in his book, describing her work as "obnoxious and toxic mental poison in the form of song lyrics."
"Beyoncé is incredibly talented – gifted, in fact," Huckabee writes. "She has an exceptional set of pipes and can actually sing. She is a terrific dancer – without the explicit moves best left for the privacy of her bedroom.
"Jay Z is a very shrewd businessman, but I wonder: Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line
from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?"