During Donald Trump’s post-midterms press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked the president about his former attorney Michael Cohen’s claim that Trump had told him “black people are too stupid to vote for me.”
The reporter cited others who said the president uses racist language, including former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who said Trump often used a racial slur to refer to black people, and rapper Lil Jon, who said that Trump had called him “Uncle Tom.”
Trump replied, “I don’t know who Lil Jon is.”
“He was on ‘The Apprentice,’” the reporter shot back.
“I don’t know. Oh, he was? OK, I see. I don’t know,” Trump said before denying the claims and insisting he’s “never used racist remarks.”
As the reporter attempted to press the question, Trump spoke over him, telling him to be “quiet” and eventually pointing to the reporter and saying, “See, when you talk about division, it’s people like this that cause division, great division.”
In 2016, three show staffers from Season 13 of Trump’s former reality show “Celebrity Apprentice All Stars” told The Daily Beast that the then-presidential nominee not only used the term “Uncle Tom” in reference to Lil Jon, but refused to stop using the offensive term even after producers asked him to stop.
The incident reportedly occurred in an episode where the rapper wore an Uncle Sam costume for a challenge. Apparently, when Trump heard about the gimmick, he started calling Lil Jon “Uncle Tom” instead of “Uncle Sam.”
Lil Jon responded to the report on Twitter, saying that Trump did call him “Uncle Tom” but stopped after he was confronted.
“When this ‘Uncle Tom’ incident happened on Celebrity Apprentice in the boardroom several of my cast mates and I addressed Mr. Trump immediately when we heard the comment,” Lil Jon tweeted in 2016. “I can’t say if he knew what he was actually saying or not but he did stop using that term once we explained it’s offensiveness.”
The rapper added: “I also want to be clear that I don’t agree with many of the statements Mr. Trump has said during his current run for President.”