Google exec Eric Schmidt takes cheap shot at KCK (Update)

Update: Unified Government of Wyandotte County public information officer Edwin Birch contacted The Pitch late this afternoon to say CNET got it all wrong. Birch sent along the above clip (it isn’t publicly listed in YouTube searches) and described it the following way: “As you can see, he’s being completely earnest: He thinks people will want to move to Kansas City. No joke, no punch line at Kansas City’s expense! … The article totally misrepresents Schmidt’s statement about Kansas City, Kansas. We believe there are many opportunities in Kansas City, Kansas for people and businesses looking to relocate.”

There’s a smattering of laughter from the audience, but the guy asking the question seems to honestly agree with Schmidt’s assessment — joke or not.

• Charles Haynes
• Eric Schmidt: Comedian.

Original post: Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Ever since Google announced that Kansas City, Kansas, would be the first city to get ultra-fast fiber Internet service about a year ago, most national media outlets have gently chided the decision to start in a relatively small city in the middle of the map. Wizard of Oz and barbecue jokes aside, of course.

But Google itself couldn’t hold back anymore this week at a tech conference in Barcelona.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt was speaking about the fiber project, and someone asked him about the impact that the speedy Web access could have on technology. We’ll let CNET’s Stephen Shankland take it from here: