Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is making the rounds Friday after video surfaced of him cracking two jokes about Asians at a Las Vegas meeting.
Speaking to the Asian Chamber of Commerce, Reid joked about the stereotype regarding Asian intelligence.
“I don’t think you’re smarter than anyone else, but you’ve convinced a lot of us you are," he said to chuckles.
Later, when someone mentioned a person with the last name "Wong," Reid cracked: "One problem that I’ve had today is keeping my Wongs straight.”
Watch it below:
While the jokes did elicit laughs, National Review notes Reid wasn't so kind to a former challenger who cracked an Asian joke:
While on the campaign trail in 2010, Reid criticized Republican challenger Sharron Angle for her own “Asian” comments. Angle came under fire for telling a group of Hispanic students that “some of you look a little more Asian to me.”
And they weren't successful. Reid was there stumping for Lucy Flores, the Democratic nominee for Nevada lieutenant governor. After he left, the group voted to support her Republican challenger, Mark Hutchison, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
UPDATE:
Reid has now apologized, according to Politico: “My comments were in extremely poor taste and I apologize. Sometimes I say the wrong thing.”
(H/T: Time)
