Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is facing backlash for his use of a derogatory term to describe Japanese individuals as "Japs" during a panel discussion on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
"National defense and homeland security are issues that mean the most to me and there's real issues with him, real problems with his views," King said. "I don't know if he's thought them through, or it's just like the guy at the end of the bar that says, 'Oh screw them, bomb them, kill them, pull out, bring them home. You know, why pay for the Japs, why pay for the Koreans?'"
The national director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations posted a statement with King's comments on YouTube, asking him to stop using “derogatory language targeting any national, ethnic, or minority group.”
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, called on King to apologize.
In a statement to NBC News, King said called the backlash “intellectual dishonesty” and said his comment shouldn’t be viewed as “anti-Japanese or anti-Asian when I am satirizing and criticizing bias and ignorance.”
