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VIDEO: 'Homeland's' Damian Lewis on his Muslim joke to Obama

"From one Muslim to another" -- Damian Lewis describes his concerns about a joke he made to Barack Obama in an interview on Britain's "The Jonathan Ross Show."
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Claire Danes (L) and Damian Lewis hold the Emmys they won for "Homeland" at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 23, 2012. UPI/Danny Moloshok
Claire Danes (L) and Damian Lewis hold the Emmys they won for "Homeland" at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on September 23, 2012. UPI/Danny Moloshok 
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Published: Nov. 12, 2012 at 2:43 PM
By KATE STANTON, UPI.com

As Britain's second most popular ginger across the pond (Prince Harry, ahem), "Homeland's" Damian Lewis is riding high on a wave of accolades, including an Emmy Award, for his hit Showtime series about a marine-turned-POW-turned-terrorist. But the English actor is still pretty worried about a joke note he wrote to the president of the United States.

"From one Muslim to another," Lewis says he wrote on a signed DVD box set requested by the president as a gift for the Teamsters Union, in reference to Lewis' recently converted character on "Homeland," and conspiracy theories about Barack Obama's religion. "I couldn’t take it back," Lewis said. "I was writing emails for the whole of the next week going, ‘I do hope he understands irony.”’

Lewis also recalled meeting the president, who has admitted to being a fan of the show, asking him how he found the time to watch TV at all: “On Saturday afternoons, Michelle, she takes the two girls, they go play tennis. I go into the Oval Office, I pretend I’m gonna work and I switch on 'Homeland,'” the president apparently replied.

The Obama conversation begins around mark 7:10 below:

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