A pastor in Maryland on Sunday addressed President Donald Trump's reported use of a derogatory word to describe several nations during his sermon attended by Vice President Mike Pence, the New York Daily News reports.
"I stand today as your pastor to vehemently denounce and reject any such characterizations of the nations of Africa and of our brothers and sisters in Haiti," Watson said as Pence looked on.
"And I further say: Whoever made such a statement, whoever used such a visceral, disrespectful, dehumanizing adjective to characterize the nations of Africa, whoever said it, is wrong. And they ought to be held accountable."
Watson received a standing ovation during the sermon.
But Watson told NBC Washington he was not directing his statements at Pence.
"I did not look at him while speaking," Watson said. "I wanted to keep my focus on speaking to my people, because it wasn't a personal attack. I wasn't trying to personally go after the vice president."
Pence's office called Watson earlier Sunday to tell them Pence would be attending mass.
"I felt I needed to speak up, and I would have spoken up regardless to whether the vice president came or not," Watson told NBC Washington. "It wasn't about his being there. This was about trying to be a responsible pastor to speak up for God's people."
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