Racial stereotypes can be comedy gold, but it’s almost never good for a politician to try them out on an audience. Speaking at an event for the Distilled Spirits Council in Washington, D.C, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky, made a joke about the pronunciation of Louisville using a Chinese accent.

From the Washington Examiner:

“So I was on a trip to China a few years ago and came back and had dinner with the Chinese ambassador, who spoke broken English but was trying to impress his staff with his knowledge of the U.S., remarking at our dinner table mainly to his staff that he had been to Kentucky,” Rogers went on. “He had been to the Kentucky Derby and he said, ‘you know, the Kentucky Derby is located in a city and you need to know how to pronounce the name of,’ he said, ‘it’s not Rouisville, it’s Rouisville,” using a slightly different inflection, but mocking the ambassador’s accent.

Moderately funny, but also wince worthy. Hey, remember this?