Palin claimed she's not wired to ''put focus on myself,' after appearing on national TV rapping in a bear costume

Sarah Palin, dressed as a bear, appeared on the Masked Singer TV show in 2020, but her performance was such that she didn’t last long.

“I’m not wired to want to get out there and put the focus on myself,” former Gov. Sarah Palin claimed in a deposition taken for her defamation lawsuit against the New York Times.

Her 2020 deposition followed Palin’s appearance on “The Masked Singer,” a Fox show in which she proved once again she is hard wired to put the focus on herself, rapping to “Baby Got Back” while wearing a pink-and-purple bear costume.

Palin’s lawyers didn’t want the jurors to see the video of her singing and dancing in the bear costume as that would suggest that her opportunities to get publicity for herself and the damage to her reputation hadn’t been as severe as she claimed in the lawsuit. A 2017 editorial wrongly linked Palin’s political action committee to a mass shooting in Arizona in 2011, mentioning her name first in the fifth paragraph. It was corrected the next day, but Palin claims lasting damage from it.

She lost the case, but her attorneys are appealing.

When a Times attorney asked during the trial about her performance on the TV show, Palin shouted “objection,” which is what attorneys are supposed to do, not witnesses.

After Don Young’s death, Palin joined the scramble to replace him. She is hoping to be treated as a serious candidate for the U.S. House.

It’s hard to tell from her Masked Singer performance, but Palin said she changed some of the lyrics to “exploit men” with big butts, belting out a 1992 number that is about big butts.

For example, she changed the words “Take your average black man and ask him that” to “Take your average American and ask her that.”

Palin said on TV that she appeared on the show for “unity,” but on an aftershow interview she said she did it in a “respectful way,” as kind of a "walking middle finger to the haters out there in the world. . .”

Here are the full lyrics from the 1992 song by Sir Mix-a-Lot:

I like big butts and I cannot lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, want to pull up tough
'Cause you noticed that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she's wearing
I'm hooked and I can't stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get wit'cha
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that butt you got makes (me, me so horny)
Ooh, Rump-o'-smooth-skin
You say you want to get in my Benz?
Well, use me, use me
'Cause you ain't that average groupie
I've seen her dancin'
To hell with romancin'
She's sweat, wet
Got it goin' like a turbo 'Vette
I'm tired of magazines
Sayin' flat butts are the thing
Take the average black man and ask him that
She gotta pack much back
So, fellas (yeah) fellas (yeah)
Has your girlfriend got the butt? (Hell yeah)
Tell 'em to shake it (shake it) shake it (shake it)
Shake that healthy butt

Baby got back (L.A. face with the Oakland booty)
Baby got back (L.A. face with the Oakland booty)
(L.A. face with the Oakland booty)

I like 'em round, and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself, I'm actin' like an animal
Now here's my scandal
I wanna get ya home
And ugh, double-up, ugh, ugh
I ain't talkin' bout Playboy
'Cause silicone parts are made for toys
I want 'em real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Mix-a-lot's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble
So I'm lookin' at rock videos
Knock-kneed bimbos walkin' like hoes
You can have them bimbos
I'll keep my women like Flo Jo
A word to the thick soul sistas, I want to get with ya
I won't cuss or hit ya
But I gotta be straight when I say I wanna (uh)
'Til the break of dawn
Baby got it goin' on
A lot of simps won't like this song
'Cause them punks like to hit it and quit it
And I'd rather stay and play
'Cause I'm long, and I'm strong
And I'm down to get the friction on
So, ladies (yeah) ladies (yeah)
If you wanna roll in my Mercedes (yeah)
Then turn around, stick it out
Even white boys got to shout
Baby got back

Baby got back
Yeah, baby, when it comes to females
Cosmo ain't got nothin' to do with my selection
Thirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six
Ha ha, only if she's 5'3

So your girlfriend rolls a Honda, playin' workout tapes by Fonda
But Fonda ain't got a motor in the back of her Honda
My anaconda don't want none
Unless you've got buns, hun
You can do side bends or sit-ups
But please don't lose that butt
Some brothers want to play that hard role
And tell you that the butt ain't gold
So they toss it and leave it
And I pull up quick to retrieve it
So Cosmo says you're fat
Well I ain't down with that
'Cause your waist is small and your curves are kickin'
And I'm thinkin' bout stickin'
To the beanpole dames in the magazines
You ain't it, Miss Thing
Give me a sista, I can't resist her
Red beans and rice didn't miss her
Some knucklehead tried to diss
'Cause his girls are on my list
He had game but he chose to hit 'em
And I pull up quick to get wit 'em
So ladies, if the butt is round
And you want a triple X throwdown
Dial 1-900-MIXALOT
And kick them nasty thoughts
Baby got back

Baby got back