Joe Biden apologises to prominent black radio host

Presidential nominee Joe Biden has been forced to apologise after comments he made during an interview with an African American radio host.

Joe Biden’s comments to a prominent black radio host have forced the Democratic presidential nominee to issue an apology and have become a major distraction from his campaign.

In an interview with The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne Tha God on Friday, Mr Biden said: “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”

The comments were in response to a question about Mr Biden’s history of race issues — a history that includes this comment from 1975 about slavery: “I’ll be damned if I feel responsible to pay for what happened 300 years ago.”

Near the end of Mr Biden’s appearance on the radio program, he was pressed on reports he was considering Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, who is white, to be his vice-presidential running mate.

The host told Mr Biden black voters “saved your political life in the primaries” and “have things they want from you”.

“I guarantee you there are multiple black women being considered. Multiple,” Mr Biden replied.

His comments were pounced on by Donald Trump’s campaign and his allies.

South Carolina senator Tim Scott, a Trump supporter and the Senate’s sole black Republican, said he was “shocked and surprised” by Mr Biden’s remarks.

“I was struck by the condescension and the arrogance in his comments,” Senator Scott said in a conference call arranged by the Trump campaign.

“I could not believe my ears that he would stoop so low to tell folks what they should do, how they should think and what it means to be black.”

Charlamagne Tha God later said on CNN, “A black woman running mate is necessary, especially after today.”

He added that the question of “what makes somebody black” was a discussion for black people, not for “a white man”.

Mr Biden has since apologised. He says he “should not have been so cavalier”.

In a call with the US Black Chamber of Commerce that was added to his public schedule, Mr Biden said he would never “take the African American community for granted”.

“I shouldn’t have been such a wise guy,” Mr Biden said.

“No one should have to vote for any party based on their race or religion or background.”

Alicia Garza, a Black Lives Matter co-founder and principal of Black Futures Lab, said: “None of us can afford for the party or for this campaign to mess this election up, and comments like these are the kinds that frankly either make black voters feel like we’re not really valued and people don’t care if we show up or not.”

Mr Trump himself has a history of incendiary rhetoric related to race. When he launched his presidential campaign in 2015, Mr Trump called many Mexican immigrants “rapists”. Campaigning in 2016, he asked black voters, “What the hell do you have to lose?”

In 2017, he said there were good people on “both sides” of the clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and anti-racist demonstrators, which left one counter-protester dead.

In 2018, during a private White House meeting on immigration, Mr Trump wondered why the United States was admitting so many immigrants from “shithole countries”, such as African nations. He also blasted four Democratic congresswomen of colour, saying they hated America and should “go back” to where they come from, even though all were US citizens and three were born in the US.

Black voters helped resurrect Mr Biden’s campaign in this year’s primaries with a second-place finish in the Nevada caucuses and a resounding win in the South Carolina primary after he’d started with embarrassing finishes in overwhelmingly white Iowa and New Hampshire.

— with AP