Obamas were set to see Reiners the night they were found dead
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Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner attend the 46th Kennedy Center Honors gala in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 3, 2023. Photo: Kent Kishimura/AFP via Getty Images
Former First Lady Michelle Obama revealed Monday she and former President Obama were set to see legendary director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner the day the couple was found dead.
The big picture: The Reiners' death triggered mourning across Hollywood and far beyond. But President Trump used their deaths to mock Reiner, a progressive activist, for his political stances — sparking bipartisan condemnation.
- After writing on Truth Social that Reiner died from a "mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME," the president doubled down, telling reporters Monday the film icon was "very bad for our country" and a "deranged person."
What she's saying: Without naming Trump, the former first lady praised the Reiners during a Monday appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
- Obama said that "unlike some people, Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know." She continued, "They're not deranged or crazed," echoing Trump's language.
- "In a time when there's not there's not a lot of courage going on, they were the kind of people who were ready to put their actions behind what they cared about, and they cared about their family, and they cared about this country, and they cared about fairness and equity, and that is the truth."
Catch up quick: The couple's bodies were found inside their Brentwood home Sunday. Law enforcement determined they were victims of homicide.
- Their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested and "booked for murder," the Los Angeles Police Department said Monday.
- Reacting to their killing, Trump cast Reiner, a vocal critic of his, as "a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star."
Friction point: Even prominent voices in the MAGA movement have said the president's reaction was inappropriate. Podcaster Tim Pool wrote Monday that while Trump "has personal reasons to be upset with Reiner," he can "do better."
- Pool pointed to Reiner's "very gracious" response to the killing of Charlie Kirk in September. The director had said the attack on the slain MAGA activist "should never happen to anybody" and that videos of the his death were "absolute horror."
- That jarring split-screen has been widely shared in the wake of the Reiners' deaths.
Zoom out: Former President Obama also applauded the Reiners in a Monday statement for their "lives defined by purpose," saying they "will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired."
- Reiner directed American classics such as "The Princess Bride," "When Harry Met Sally..." and "Stand by Me."
- His wife, Michele Singer Reiner, was a photographer, producer and, like her husband, an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
- The Associated Press reported that she shot the famous cover image for Trump's bestseller, "The Art of the Deal" — a connection the president did not mention in his Truth Social post about her and her husband's deaths.
Go deeper: MAGA breaks with Trump on mocking Rob Reiner's killing
