A controversial black preacher revealed that President Donald Trump called to scold him for apologizing after posting a tweet showing 2016 Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in blackface.
Pastor Mark Burns revealed the phone call in an interview with The Post and Courier hyping his Republican Party bid for the South Carolina seat being vacated Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-Spartanburg).
"Pastor! Who told you to apologize?" Trump allegedly said in the call. Pastor Burns recounted his apology had previously been requested by Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
"Don't apologize! We don't apologize! Double down," Trump reportedly demanded. "Tell them you meant to do it."
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Now deleted tweet by Pastor Mark Burns (R-SC)[/caption]
Pastor Burns took Trump's advice and went on MSNBC to defend his blackface tweet.
“I am standing behind that picture,” Pastor Burns insisted. “We as African-Americans, we need to make Democrats fight for our vote. We need to make them fight for us. We need to make them do what they say they are gonna do, because we are just as valuable as every race in the great state of the United States of America.”
In January, Joy Reid, the host of "AM Joy" on MSNBC, had to cut Pastor Burns' microphone during a bizarre rant excusing President Trump's racism. Pastor Burns replied that Reid should "just move to Haiti."
The feud with MSNBC anchor Reid started one day after Burns embarrassed himself on CNN by offering a biblical defense for Trump's "sh*thole" comments.
"It's because of Donald Trump that I became a Republican, learning his principles and learning what the conservative movement really stood for," Burns told the The Post and Courier.
"He was just such a normal person," Pastor Burns added.
Watch Pastor Mark Burns defend his blackface tweet in 2016:
