Former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about a variety of topics at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago on Tuesday.

In a lengthy onstage interview, the former president went after Twitter users, telling the crowd that being "woke" is not activism.

“This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff. You should get over that quickly. The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws,” Obama said.

“There is this sense sometimes of ‘the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, and that’s enough.’ Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb. Then, I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because, ‘Man, you see how woke I was? I called you out.’ I’m gonna get on TV. Watch my show. Watch ‘Grown-ish.’ You know, that’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far," Obama said jokingly.

The audience applauded, laughed and showered Obama in approving murmurs, but the comments sparked huge debate online.

Some people hailed Obama for acknowledging the realities of politics and the need to work with opposing sides to get tangible things done. However, others said the comments illustrated how insulated he has become as a millionaire and his constant need to put down activists working to fix many of the problems he failed to solve. 

Michelle Obama also spoke at the event and made headlines herself for comments about white flight and Chicago. 

“We were doing everything we were supposed to do — and better. I want to remind white folks that y’all were running from us…This family with all the values that you read about, you were running from us. And you’re still running. We’re no different than the immigrant families that are moving in, families that are coming from other places to try to do better,” she told the crowd.

“Because we can so easily wash over who we really were because of the color of our skin … the texture of our hair ― that’s what divides countries. There were no gang fights, there were no territorial battles. Yet one by one, they packed their bags and they ran from us. And they left communities in shambles,” she added.

While conservatives took issue with the former first lady mentioning white flight, others in Chicago complained that the Obama Center was forcing out local residents by causing rent increases. Others complained about how she spoke about the neighborhood and Chicago as a whole. 

The event was part of the annual summit for the Obama Foundation, the family's nonprofit organization.

Barack-ObamaMichelle ObamaObama FoundationPresident-Barack-Obama