NEWSRod Blagojevich Apologizes for "Blacker than Obama" Comment
Jan. 11 2010, Published 4:50 a.m. ET
Former Illinois Gov., and new Celebrity Apprentice contestant, Rod Blagojevich has apologized for comments he made during a magazine interview in which he said he's "blacker than Barack Obama" and called it a poor choice of words. You don't say...
Rod told WLS Radio in Chicago on Monday that he is sorry if he offended anyone and said it was a "stupid thing to say," the Associated Press reports.
"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived," Rod said in his interview with Esquire. "I saw it all growing up."
He also referred to the president as "this guy" and said Barack was elected simply on hope.
Rod also made claims that he's a real person working in an arena dominated by fakes.
The twice-elected Illinois Gov. was impeached and removed from office last year after he was arrested by federal prosecutors on corruption charges for trying to sell Barack's old U.S. Senate seat, which he has pleaded not guilty to.
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His trial is schedule to start later this year and Rod will be appearing on Celebrity Apprentice this spring. He had been invited to participate in last summer's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here show, but was legally unable to travel to Costa Rica and was replaced by his wife Cindy.
The White House refused to comment on Rod's statements made in the interview.
The interview appears in the February issue of Esquire, which hits stands Jan. 19.
