Maloney Apologizes for Racial Language

Representative Carolyn Maloney has issued an apology for her use of a racial slur—in relaying a quote from someone else—in an interview about her prospective Senate run with City Hall News.

From the City Hall News story:

There is Carolyn Maloney, ripping into Kirsten Gillibrand broad and hard for voting against the two stimulus bills and for changing her positions on several core Democratic issues, sounding out her case on the fly as, “It’s the NRA, it’s immigration, it’s all these other things. In fact, I got a call from someone from Puerto Rico, said [Gillibrand] went to Puerto Rico and came out for English-only [education]. And he said, ‘It was like saying n—r to a Puerto Rican,’” she said, using the full racial slur. “I don’t know—I don’t know if that’s true or not. I just called. I’m just throwing that out. All of her—well, what does she stand for?”

In response to an email I sent to Maloney campaign spokesman Paul Blank about the remark, I got the following statement from Maloney:

"I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting. It's no excuse but I was so caught up in relaying the story exactly as it was told to me that, in doing so, I repeated a word that should never be repeated."