Sonja Sohn, who played Detective Shakima Gregg on The Wire, did everything in her power to get close to President Barack Obama at yesterday’s inauguration ceremony. “Let me tell you something: I started with the silver ticket†— the rear-most standing area, near the National Mall — “because, you know what, I forgot to ask the people that I know who are kinda high up. So a week ago, I got a silver ticket. That I traded in for a purple ticket [the next-closest standing area]. I was in the purple area and I honestly did slip under a railing into the handicapped area. And then I slipped under another railing into the yellow area [the second-closest seated area].â€
But it wasn’t just the powers of moving undetected, which she presumably picked up acting in The Wire, that Sohn deployed. She also used her special in with law enforcement. “Luckily a cop recognized me — cops love the show. And he just let me pass into the yellow area. And [as] everybody’s leaving, I got to the front.†We’d like to have seen Jim True-Frost accomplish such a thing. Incredibly, though, this did not work with all of D.C.’s finest: When we tried to dodge a line heading away from the Capitol, a female cop stopped Sohn. “Hey, my sister! My name is Sonja Sohn. I respect your job so much. I was on The Wire. My friends and I were going to go down this hill, all right?†“Ma’am,†the officer replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.†Then she gently nudged us through a gate with the rest of the cattle. “Damn,†said Sohn, moving along. “I really thought I was gonna hook that up.â€