Obama Team Points Back At HBO

Last night HBO released a statement blaming Obama’s Presidential Inauguration Committee (PIC) for not airing openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson’s invocation. Now John Aravosis reports getting this message from the Obama team:

“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event.” — PIC communications director Josh Earnest.

Uh, except that “hundreds of thousands of people” didn’t hear Robinson due to “malfunctioning” speakers. It’s interesting to see how furiously both sides are backpedaling from this.

UPDATE: AfterElton got a further statement from HBO: “It was not an HBO omission. We merely televised the show beginning at 2:30pm. Had the PIC told us upfront that this was to be part of the telecast, it would have been.” According to AfterElton, HBO has given the PIC permission to post Robinson’s speech on their website.