Meryl Streep fact-checks Obama's latest memoir: 'He's a very good writer, but…'

Meryl Streep appeared Monday on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where she took a moment to correct Barack Obama’s recollections of a moment they once shared. While Streep is a huge fan of Obama, as well as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Honor, she pointed out that even he makes mistakes.

In his latest memoir, A Promised Land, Obama recalled, “Meryl Streep leaning over to softly recite in Mandarin the lyrics to a song about clouds that she had learned for a part years ago.” However, when Colbert asked her about the memory she had a slightly different story.

“I do remember that moment,” said Streep, “but he got the story a little bit wrong. He’s a very good writer but his memory is…”

Instead of being a song about clouds, it was actually a famous 4th century Chinese poem. She learned it for a cultural-exchange performance that she did with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at the Beijing National Stadium. She admitted that she originally planned to recite the poem in Mandarin, but she got cold feet during the performance and did it in English.

“Alone on a misty mountain,” recited Streep. “I come to a clearing. Sunlight on green moss. I am not alone.”

When she shared the poem with Obama, it was in its native language of Mandarin. Colbert was able to convince the three-time Oscar-winner to do the same for his audience.

Mandarin is a challenging language because the words can have several different meanings simply based on inflection. Streep was a little worried that she may have mispronounced something and caused a major catastrophe.

“Since one in five people on the face of the Earth are Chinese,” she joked, “they will know now that I have said something horrible probably... an international incident.”

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.

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