© Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty US President Barack Obama (R) and British Prime Minister David Cameron pose for a picture with Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt (C) next to US First Lady Michelle Obama (R) during the memorial service of South African former president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City) in Johannesburg on December 10, 2013. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died in Johannesburg on December 5 at age 95.
While world leaders gathered in celebration of the life of South Africa's Nelson Mandela, social media seemed more interested in a selfie and a soap opera in the stands.
U.S. President Barack Obama managed to upstage his own universally praised speech about Mandela Tuesday not once, but twice, with pictures taken in the stands at FNB stadium.
First there was a picture of Obama shaking hands with Cuba President Raul Castro. Then was the superpower selfie taken by Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt with a smiling Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron.
While some on social media said it was inappropriate to take such as picture at a memorial, many others focused on U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who was sitting to the right of the president, wearing a grim look on her face.
While she appears to be facing the centre of the stadium, headlines and tweets were focused on her unimpressed look in comparison to the smiling world leaders next to her.
Comic Rob Delaney called the photo gallery the "funniest 3-panel comic in history."
The later photo shows the Obamas have switched seats, with the first lady sitting next to the Danish prime minister and the president looking ahead sombrely. The president got up to leave and when he did, Michelle Obama could be seen chatting with Thorning-Schmidt.
A headline at Gawker blared "Obama in the Doghouse After Taking Too-Friendly Selfie with Danish PM" and linked to the photo gallery. Buzzfeed asked "Is this the most important selfie of 2013?"
© FacebookA screenshot of the Danish prime minister's Facebook page.
On her Facebook page, one commenter suggested she was not being respectful of Mandela by taking the picture.
Telegraph writer Iain Martin said the photo was uncouth and not worthy of good English manners.
"In all manner of jobs and professions are people who would not behave like Obama and Cameron did today on work time, partly because they just wouldn't. And partly because they know that they might get fired for tweeting a grinning selfie from inside the recently-departed CEO's memorial service," he wrote.
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