Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said the media was over-hyping comments made by Atlanta rapper Killer Mike, who quoted a feminist activist at a Morehouse College rally as saying that a "uterus doesn't qualify you to be president."
"What Mike said essentially is that ... people should not be voting for candidates based on their gender, but based on what they believe. I think that makes sense," said Sanders, who has mounted an unexpectedly strong challenge against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"I don't go around, no one has ever heard me say, 'Hey guys, let's stand together, vote for a man.' I would never do that, never have." ... "I think the media is blowing this thing up," Sanders told reporters on his plane Thursday, dismissing questions about the comments as a "gotcha media game."
Hillary Clinton’s supporters seized on the line to try to paint the Vermont senator and his supporters as sexist. The rapper, whose real name is Michael Render, tweeted that he backed other female politicians and was repeating something that activist Jane Elliott had told him.
Here’s the full quote of what he said:
"When people tell us … 'Hold on Black Lives Matter, just wait a while.' And then she get good, she have your own momma sit down and say, 'Well, you're a woman.' But I talked to [anti-racism activist] Jane Elliott a few weeks ago, and Jane said: 'Michael, a uterus doesn't qualify you to be president of the United States. You have to be, you have to have policy that's reflective of social justice.' Paying woman a fair wage is social justice. Making sure that minorities have jobs is social justice."
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