Washington - Did Barack Obama's controversial ex-pastor Jeremiah Wright visit the White House? Or did the great Michael Jordan shoot some hoops with the president on his basketball court?
The answer to both questions is no.
But those famous names, and others, were thrown up in an exercise in government transparency on Friday, when the Obama administration released the first 500 names on a list of the 100 000 people cleared to visit the White House every year.
Though the administration touted the release as evidence of "transparency like you've never seen before", the list did spark confusion, as some people with famous names were listed on the visitor logs.
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The White House said several "false positives" of people saddled with famous names were on the list of 500 guest entrances to the White House, including that of one Jeremiah Wright.
The famous Wright caused uproar during Obama's campaign when tapes of incendiary sermons emerged. Another false positive was 1960s radical William Ayers, who opponents tried to link with Obama during his candidacy.
Other near misses for famous people included Jordan, liberal film director Michael Moore and rapper Robert Kelly (also known as R. Kelly).
"The well-known individuals with those names never actually came to the White House," said Norm Eisen, special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform.
"There's an important lesson here as well. This unprecedented level of transparency can sometimes be confusing rather than providing clear information," he said.
But several famous people did seem to be listed in the records as bona fide White House visitors, including chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, who was cleared in on January 20, the day of Obama's inauguration.
And Al Gore, the former vice president is shown with four clearances to visit the place he used to work, though not to see the president.
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