Joe Biden has expressed regret over his controversial comments about undecided black voters.
The former vice president made the comments Friday toward the end of his interview with The Breakfast Club host Charlamagne tha God, who encouraged Biden to go back on the show and answer more questions. Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, suggested listeners should already have their minds made up on who they were going to vote for in November, stating: "You got more questions? I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain’t black."
Hours after the interview aired, Biden walked back the comments during a conference call with the Black Chamber of Commerce.
"I should not have been so cavalier. I’ve never, never, ever taken the African-American community for granted," he said, as reported by the Daily Beast. "I shouldn't have been such a wise guy."
Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders also addressed the controversy via Twitter, insisting Biden made the comments in a joking manner.
"The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest," Sanders wrote, "but let’s be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump’s any day. Period."