That’s the question splitting the Internet after a clip of the republican giving a speech in Janesville, Wisconsin, appeared to show him about to say a word with the same first syllable as the racial slur.
Whilst it was probably just a slip of the tongue, Vice magazine says: “As unlikely as it seems that he was actually going to describe Barack as ‘the anti-war, government n*****,’ there also aren’t that many other words beginning with ‘nig’ that he might have been saying as an alternative.”
Commenters on the video seem split: “He clearly meant to call our President the ‘anti-war, government Nickelback fan,’ then got really embarrassed, so he tripped over his words,” said one commenter.
“You’re right, he’s not dumb enough; which is why he totally stopped himself so awkwardly and abruptly like that. The fact that he instantly changed to a completely different sentence just confirms it,” said another.
Other contributors were more sanguine: “I don’t think he is homophobic or racist. He jumbled some words – big deal. He lost track and stuttered. Everyone needs to slow down. Demonizing people doesn’t help.”
Decide for yourself.
