Alex Wong / Getty Images News via Getty Images

11 Years After His Tan Suit Set Off a Scandal, Obama Has Revealed Larry David Was Behind It the Whole Time

Updated 1 week ago, August 9, 2026

A spilled Mango Tango protein shake is Obama’s official explanation for the tan suit, at least in the season finale of Larry David’s HBO series “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.”

Obama, who plays himself, is reviewing his wardrobe in the Oval Office for a NATO summit trip to Turin, Italy. David, cast as a presidential aide, sneaks a sip of the shake Obama refused to share, spills it on the suit jacket resting on a chair, and scrambles to cover the mess by pushing the tan suit for an upcoming press conference.

“Well, first of all, it’s a gorgeous suit,” David offers when the president hesitates. He seals it with his “Curb Your Enthusiasm” catchphrase: “Pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.”

Two men in suits stand across from each other in the Oval Office, both gesturing with their hands mid-conversation, smiling. — Obama and Larry David face each other in a lively exchange inside the Oval Office in a scene from HBO’s “Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.” Credit: John Johnson/HBO.

Tan-suit-gate landed 11 years ago this month, when Obama wore it to a press briefing and set off days of outrage. GQ called it “terrible,” Esquire called it “a monstrosity,” and Rep. Peter King called it “unpresidential” and better suited to “a party at the Hamptons.”

President Obama in a tan suit at the White House briefing room podium, gesturing with one hand, with the Presidential Seal and U.S. flags visible. — Obama addresses reporters from the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on August 28, 2014 — the day his now-infamous tan suit made headlines. Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images.

A man in a tan suit gestures with both hands open in a room with a bookcase, a bronze horse sculpture, and a patterned rug border. — Wearing the tan suit once more, Obama stands mid-gesture inside what appears to be the Oval Office in a scene from the HBO series. Credit: John Johnson/HBO.

David’s show reimagines historical moments with himself at the center. Earlier episodes cast him drafting a Declaration of Independence full of petty grievances and playing Deep Throat, feeding Bob Woodward useless gossip instead of Watergate leaks.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life,” David tells Obama in the sketch. “People are gonna be talking about this for a long, long time.”

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