Following a media storm over racist remarks he made about African Americans, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy attempted to apologize while also defend his controversial comments, the New York Daily News reported.
"Maybe I sinned and maybe I need to ask forgiveness. Maybe I don't know what I actually said," Bundy said on Friday when asked to explain his opinion that black people would be better off in slavery.
However, the idea that Bundy may have understood why his comments were so offensive was short lived.
"When you talk about prejudice ... we don't have freedom to say what we want," he said. "If those people cannot take those kind of words and not be offensive than Martin Luther King hasn't got his job done yet."
On Wednesday night, The New York Times published an interview with Bundy where he made several choice comments about black people and the government.
"They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton," Bundy said, according to the Times. "And I've often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn't get no more freedom. They got less freedom."
Though Bundy -- who is currently in a standoff with federal officials for not paying taxes -- initially received a lot of support from Republicans, his slew of racist comments are prompting many prominent GOP lawmakers to shy away from him.
U.S. Sens. Rand Paul and Dean Heller issued statements on Thursday slamming the rancher for being "offensive" and "racist."
"His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him," Paul said in his statement.
"Senator Heller completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy's appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way," a spokesman said, according to Business Insider.
