Obama's Mandela memorial entertaining selfie makes a scandalous stir

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama's speech at Nelson Mandela's memorial service has been widely praised - but his decision to take part in a 'selfie' with two other world leaders has not.

President Obama, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and British premier David Cameron have been snapped committing a funeral faux pas - taking a selfie during Nelson Mandela's memorial service.

In a blog posted on Agence France-Presse's website, the AFP's photographer who captured the selfie moment said the photo was taken shortly after Obama's stirring eulogy, and it was Thorning-Schmidt's smartphone that captured the photo.

Meanwhile, a serious-looking Michelle Obama looked like she was not at all interested in taking part in the pic. The first lady was captured in photographs with an icey stare, though it remained unclear whether they were taken before or after the selfie.

Immediately after posting, the photo went viral, becoming the topic du jour of talk news and cyber chatter.

And it has left many questioning whether the self-taken image was appropriate.

Danish Prime Minister says she was just having a "bit of fun" when she snapped the now famous selfie alongside British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama during the middle of the memorial for former South African leader Nelson Mandela.

The Danish PM told the Danish daily Berlingske that taking the impromptu group photo of the three world leaders while at the memorial was not "inappropriate."

"There were lots of pictures taken that day, and I just thought it was a bit of fun. Maybe it also shows that when we meet heads of state and government, we too are just people who have fun."

His decision to shake the hand of Cuba's president Raul Castro underscored the warming of relations between the United States and its old foe.

But it's the selfie photo that's really inflamed passions on the internet - many taking to Twitter to question the appropriateness of taking such photos at a memorial service.

The photographer who took the photo wrote in his blog that: "Anyway, suddenly this woman pulled out her mobile phone and took a photo of herself smiling with Cameron and the U.S. president. I captured the scene reflexively. All around me in the stadium, South Africans were dancing, singing and laughing to honor their departed leader. It was more like a carnival atmosphere, not at all morbid. The ceremony had already gone on for two hours and would last another two. The atmosphere was totally relaxed – I didn’t see anything shocking in my viewfinder, president of the U.S. or not. We are in Africa.

I later read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved on seeing the Danish prime minister take the picture. But photos can lie. In reality, just a few seconds earlier the first lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included. Her stern look was captured by chance."

The hashtag #ObamaSelfie quickly started trending and the photo was soon being reported on by the world's media.

"There should be a moratorium on 'selfies' during memorials and funerals, no?'' tweeted @JeffryHalverson.

"'Is This The Most Important Selfie Of 2013?'' headlined the US-based social news website Buzzfeed, noting that Michelle Obama seemed "not amused'' by the impromptu photoshoot.

The act of taking selfies has become increasingly popular in recent years. The word itself was named this year's word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries.

A selfie is defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website''.

It originated in Australia with a young drunk first using the word to describe a self-portrait photograph more than a decade ago.