Joke about Michelle Obama ripped as racist.

A racist joke about Michelle Obama was broadcast over the public address system during the Creston Classic Rodeo in California this weekend, upsetting many in the audience and infuriating officials.

It also initiated an investigation into who the person who told the joke was, the rodeo announcer was initially blamed, but a later report revealed it was a rodeo clown behind the microphone.

Creston is a small town on the Central California coast, north of Santa Clara.

The San Luis Obispo Tribune has the two reports on the joke broadcast at the event, and their follow up is reporting that the man behind the microphone was rodeo clown Mike Hayhurst (the initial report blamed announcer Ed Kutz), and those at the event say the joke went like this:

"Playboy is offering Ann Romney $250,000 to pose in the magazine, and the White House is upset about it because National Geographic only offered Michelle Obama $50 to pose for them."

Yikes.

The paper notes that "racist jokes about Obama appearing in National Geographic magazine have been circulating for several years," and reveals that many in the audience were appalled at the brazen racism.

One reportedly said out loud after the joke was told, "Whoa! racist, much?!"

Officials were upset as well.

Mike Barrett, a Creston Classic Rodeo board member is quoted in the article expressing his outrage adding, "I find it offensive, and I think that it’s conduct unbecoming the rodeo announcer."

CBS reveals the "annual rodeo attracts cowboys and cowgirls from around California to compete in the three-day event 'that carries on the tradition of the hard-working pioneers that founded Creston.'"

(Image: WENN)