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'SNL' viewers want Chance the Rapper's Obama song on iTunes

Fans of former President Obama are clamoring for the opportunity to buy Chance the Rapper's "Saturday Night Live" love song turned political message.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read

This "Saturday Night Live" skit starts out with what seems like a simple love song, performed '90s R&B style, as host Chance the Rapper, Kenan Thompson and Chris Redd croon about how much they miss a lost love.

But then it's revealed that the object of their affections is ... former President Barack Obama, and the song takes on a fresh meaning.

"And every night, I turn the TV on and cry, and I say, why, I feel like we're all gonna die, so come back, Barack," they sing. "We didn't know just what we had. Now things are looking bad. Like. really bad, like world war bad, like nuclear bad." 

The three muse about Obama's seemingly picture-perfect retirement, as he hang-glides, vacations in Hawaii and takes his daughter Malia to college, while wondering if they could perhaps bring him back for a speech -- soon realizing his speaking fee is out of their price range.

"How much would that cost?" they ponder. "For real? Oh, no, we definitely can't afford that." The singers consider a few more candidates for the 2020 presidential election. ("Maybe Michelle could run?" "I'd vote for Joe Biden." "And what about George Clooney? I mean, that dude was Batman, that'd be cool.")

But in the end, they decide, "you know what? I don't think the three of us have the firmest grasp on government."

The catchy, Boyz II Men-style tune had fans raving, and many of them immediately proclaimed they'd buy it from a streaming music service.

Some suggested that if the song was sold, proceeds should go to charity. That's not a foreign idea. Chance the Rapper announced in September that his SocialWorks youth-empowerment organization has raised $2.2 million for Chicago public schools.

In his show-opening monologue, he announced that he wanted to donate another million dollars, and offered up a Thanksgiving-themed song in hopes it would help him make that goal. But many on social media felt "Come Back, Barack" was the one that would sell better.

NBC did not immediately reply to CNET's request for comment on whether the song will be sold.