Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has taken back his apology for calling former President Barack Obama "a racist" 12 years ago.
In 2009, Beck, who nowadays hosts the Glenn Beck Program on the conservative radio station TheBlaze, called the then president "a racist" during a segment of Fox & Friends.
"This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture... This guy is, I believe, a racist," Beck said in 2009.
Beck has publicly stated his regret over those remarks several times in the years since, telling The New Yorker in November 2016 that "Obama made me a better man [...] There are things unique to the African American experience that I cannot relate to. I had to listen to them."
Then in an interview later that month with The New York Times Magazine, which was titled "Glenn Beck Is Sorry About All That", he said in reference to his comments about Obama: "I know I wouldn't believe me if I heard myself apologizing, so I'm telling you now: Don't take my word for it.
"Watch my actions. I don't care what you think about me. All I care about is saying, Please, don't make the mistake I made."
However, during an interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday evening, Beck criticized Obama over recent comments the former president made to CNN about right-wing media outlets "stoking the fear and resentment" of white people.
"I take my apology back. I was exactly right, and I even stated it right. You are a racist if you believe in critical race theory," Beck said.
"If you think that what Dr. Martin Luther King said, that he envisions a country that is seeing people for the content of their character and not their color, if you if think that's wrong, then yes, you are a racist."
Critical race theory is an academic field that analyzes race and racism as social dynamics throughout history and challenges mainstream approaches to racial justice, according to certain academics.
Several Republican figures, including former President Donald Trump, have criticized the field of study and attempted to ban the teaching of critical race theory in schools and universities.
Beck's comments came just a few days after Obama was interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday, where the former president said that some conservative outlets are making money from creating fears around race.
"There are certain right-wing media venues, for example, that monetize and capitalize on stoking the fear and resentment of a white population that is witnessing a changing America and seeing demographic changes," Obama said.
"And do everything they can to give people a sense that their way of life is threatened and that people are trying to take advantage of them."
Obama also talked about certain conservatives' focus on critical race theory, telling Cooper: "You would think with all the public policy debates that are taking place right now, the Republican Party would be engaged in a significant debate about how are we going to deal with the economy.
"What are we going to do about climate change, what are we going to do about—lo and behold, the biggest single most important issue to them apparently right now is critical race theory," Obama said. "Who knew that was the threat to our republic?"
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Beck and Obama for comment.
