Democratic candidate to the White House Joe Biden lamented remarks that caused uproar by saying to a radio presenter that he was "not black" if he was looking to vote for his opponent Donald Trump in November.
"I should not have been so embarrassed to this degree," said the 77-year-old former US vice-president, reversing the remarks he described as "unfortunate."
He stressed that "no one should vote for a party based on his race, religion, or origins," in contact with black businessmen.
The issue occurred during Biden's interview with "Charlemagne The Good", who is co-sponsoring a popular radio show on the radio, "The Breakfast Club" in New York and broadcast on Friday.
When Biden said he had to finish the interview, about 17 minutes later, his interlocutor replied, "Listen to me, you have to come and visit us when you come to New York (...) We have more questions" to ask you before the November 3 elections.
Joe Biden said, "Do you have more questions? I will tell you something, if you have a problem determining your choice between me and Trump, then you are not black."
Criticism
The Trump election team considered, via Twitter, that this conversation was "disgusting," while the son of Republican billionaire Donald Trump Jr. said Biden had a "racist, disgusting and degrading mentality of humanity."
Tim Scott, the only black Republican Senator, commented that "1.3 million black Americans had voted for Trump in 2016. And this morning, Joe Biden told each of us that we are not black."
"It can be said that I am surprised, but unfortunately, what has been said coincides with the Democrats tendency to believe that black votes are guaranteed."
This argument could cause an outcry among some black voters who express regret that Democrats and Hillary Clinton believed in 2016 that their votes were guaranteed, which made them indifferent to the promotion of the election campaigns targeting them, and in fact led to a decline in their participation rate compared to the Barack Obama era.
Biden said, in the context of his apology, "I have never considered that (the voices) of African Americans are already acquired."
He stressed that he was ready at any time to compare his record in particular with that of Donald Trump, and recalled scandalous statements of the latter, similar to his classification of African countries as "dirty countries", and accused Trump of implementing policies that offend blacks.