Anna Kendrick once called President Barack Obama an a**hole to his face

Anna Kendrick made an embarrassing faux pas when she met President Barack Obama.
Anna Kendrick made an embarrassing faux pas when she met President Barack Obama. Photo credit: YouTube/ Getty

Anna Kendrick has revealed she once insulted the President of the United States to his face.

The actress appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Friday (local time), where she was asked to explain a photo she posted to Instagram of her speaking to Barack Obama, who is doubled up with laughter.

She explained that in 2012, she and 30 others were invited to meet the President while he was in Los Angeles ahead of his re-election campaign.

"I got an email saying 'Hey do you want to meet the President?' and naturally I said, 'Of what?' They were like 'Of the country, you idiot'."

Kendrick said she was so excited to meet President Obama that she was the first person to turn up for the event. When the commander-in-chief eventually arrived, he spoke about the US economy before locking eyes with Kendrick and mentioning one of her films.

"He said, 'Anna was in one of my favourite movies, Up in the Air, which talked about the economy and the recession'. I was like, this is such an inconvenient time to be having a full stroke, which is obviously what's happening."

When she got the opportunity to shake the President's hand and speak with him one-on-one, he offered an apology for singling her out in front of everyone.

"He was like, 'I hope I didn't embarrass you earlier', and I was like, 'Yeah, you're such an asshole'."

It wasn't her last conversational fumble with the President. Kendrick told him she was the first to arrive, prompting him to ask if her home state Maine is known for its punctuality.

"'You didn't know that? You're the President'," she joked in response.

"I called him an asshole and then scolded him for not knowing enough about the 50 states," she explained to host Colbert.

"So that was what made him double over in laughter - yay!"

Despite her faux pas, Kendrick met with Obama again at the Kennedy Centre Honours and was invited to sing at Christmas in Washington, where she met the entire Obama family.

Newshub.