In the immortal words of Pokémon's own professor Oak, "There is a time and place for everything, but not now." Looks like one Pokémon GO player failed to take those words to heart, as he was recently busted for playing the popular mobile game during an official U.S. State Department briefing.
Not only that, but CNN caught the whole facepalm-inducing moment on camera, and it's just a little cringe-worthy. State Department spokesman John Kirby was discussing the very serious battle against the terrorist group ISIS when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.
"You're playing the Pokemon thing right there, aren't you?" Kirby asks a reporter in the crowd.
The Pokémon GO trainer in question (who was unidentified in the video) goes on to say that he was "just keeping an eye on it."
Kirby goes back to reading his statement on working with coalition partners and the difficulty of the tasks ahead, only to once again return to the reporter playing Pokémon GO at the end of his speech.
"Did you get one?" Kirby asks, his annoyance at the entire scenario clear.
The reporter responds by saying, "No, the signal is not very good."
Kirby, who looks like he is still struggling to believe somebody would play a game during an important briefing, responds with a sarcastic, "I'm sorry about that," before moving on with the briefing.
You can watch a video of the entire scenario below courtesy of CNN.
If reporters playing the game during official State Department briefings isn't a sign that America has reached peak Pokemania, we're not sure what is. It seems like everybody is playing the game or talking about it, even more than two weeks after the game's launch. Nintendo's stock has skyrocketed, Apple, Google and Niantic must be rolling in all the money the game is bringing in, local businesses are reporting the game is helping to increase sales, and it still doesn't seem like the craze will be going away anytime soon.
Even more players are joining the game's ranks today, as, at long last, Pokémon GO has arrived in Nintendo's home country of Japan. Here's hoping Japanese players are wise enough not to play it during official government business.
