An Arizona radio host has stood by her recent comments referring to President Barack Obama as a "monkey" and saying she "voted for the white guy."
Barbara Espinosa, host of "Hair on Fire" on KFNX in Phoenix, made the comments earlier this month to a caller who had just referred to Obama as "rabbit ears."
"I don't call him 'guy with rabbit ears,' I call him a monkey," Espinosa said, according to audio posted online. "I don't believe in calling him the first black president. I voted for the white guy myself."
According to Mediaite, Espinosa stood by the comments in a post on her blog -- a page that has since been deleted:
To set the record straight I did use the word monkey and Obama in the same sentence. Yes I did say I voted for the white guy. Unless there has been a takeover of America and free speech is no longer allowed and I can be put to death for making a remark, I refuse to take the fifth.
Espinosa also addressed her words in an unrelated post on the conservative Arizona blog site Sonoran Alliance, saying her comments were inspired by a cartoon depicting the president as a monkey. She also said that because of her last name, she is "anything but racist."
The comment was prompted by the google image cartoon that was sent to me.[link]With a last name of Espinosa I’m anything but racist. You are not on a playbill you are posting comments about a political article. Use a stage name for the stage and your given name every place else. I don’t agree Veritas on much but I agree on “The Klute”
Listen to Espinosa's original comments below: