Mass. sheriff apologizes for Obama assassination 'satire' after getting death threats

A Republican sheriff in Massachusetts says that he is now getting death threats after using "political satire" to joke that President Barack Obama should be assassinated.

At a breakfast event over the weekend, Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald had told about 100 Republicans that Abraham Lincoln had appeared to Obama in a dream and had told him to go to the theater where the former president was shot in the head.

But when McDonald spoke to WCVB on Wednesday, he was no longer in a joking mood.

"Things have taken a very sinister turn," the sheriff said. "I've received all kinds of hate emails, phone messages and voice mails, many of them physically threatening me, my family."

"To the extend that some individuals seem to be able to separate satire from reality, if I have offended them, you know, I'm sorry for that," he added. "I'm sincerely sorry for that."

But McDonald continued to defend his remarks, saying that Seth MacFarlane had joked about former President Bush going hunting with former Vice President Dick Cheney, who once accidentally shot a friend in the face.

"It's political satire, and it's meant in jest, it was stated in jest," he insisted. "And I think it's unfortunate that individuals would seek to capitalize on that."

McDonald told WCVB that he would consider telling the joke again in the future.

Watch this video from WCVB, broadcast March 20, 2013.

(h/t: Video Cafe)