Michigan Gov. Whitmer explains what her ‘Shark Week’ comment meant

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was shown on a live feed mouthing an expletive while making a joke about “Shark Week” before her Democratic National Convention speech on Monday.

READ: Michigan Gov. Whitmer owns explicit ‘Shark Week’ line with shark tweet

Her comments weren’t broadcast live, but were shown on a live feed of her speech before it started. The clip went viral on social media.

Whitmer was interviewed on BuzzFeed’s News O’Clock podcast on Thursday where she explained the backstory to her “Shark Week” comment.

Listen to the episode below:

Whitmer told News O’ Clock hosts Casey Rackham and Hayes Brown that she adopted the saying while she was preparing to run for governor.

She said she had been to a Kevin Hart comedy show and the comedian opening for Hart spoke about female empowerment and how women are becoming more comfortable talking about their periods.

“Where women used to be demure, now, you know, if a woman is talking about menstruation she might say, ‘Well, it’s Shark Week, mother---,’” Whitmer said. “It’s funny and it’s about women’s empowerment, and it makes me smile. So I would write, ‘It’s Shark Week’ on top of my paper.”

“I did not intend for it to get captured and get distributed,” Whitmer said.

View the Tweets below:

You can watch Whitmer’s full speech below: