Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) told a local radio station that he’s sorry if he offended anyone when he told Esquire magazine, “I’m blacker than Barack Obama.”
Blagojevich said his comment was a “stupid thing to say.”
He also spoke to reporters gathered outside his home.
“I was speaking metaphorically. Obviously I’m not blacker than President Obama,” he said.
“Am I frustrated? Yes. Was I expressing frustration? Yes. Was that frustration real? Yes. Is it still real? Yes. Was the way I said what I said stupid? Absolutely yes, stupid,” Blagojevich added.
In the magazine article, Blagojevich, who faces charges of corruption after allegedly trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat, took issue with Obama’s image:
This guy, he was catapulted in on hope and change, what we hope the guy is. What the fuck? Everything he’s saying’s on the teleprompter. I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.
