GOP's Ron DeSantis insists it's 'absurd' to think his 'monkey' comment about 'articulate' black opponent was racist

Florida Republican Ron DeSantis, who won his party's nomination for governor Tuesday night, has issued a statement to Fox News hours after referring to his black opponent Andrew Gillum as "articulate" and warning that he would "monkey up" the state.

“Florida elections are always competitive, and this is a guy who, although he is much too liberal for Florida, he has huge problems with how he’s governed Tallahassee, he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views,” DeSantis said Wednesday morning. “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda.”

DeSantis has now "clarified" his comment to Fox News by saying that he is not racist.

"Ron DeSantis was obviously talking about Florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses. To characterize it as anything else is absurd," the statement read.

"We do not condone this language," Fox News host Sandra Smith said.

Watch below.