Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo used the n-word during a live radio interview Tuesday while discussing the history of racism in the U.S. toward Italian-Americans.

Cuomo was appearing on WAMC radio to talk about the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, according to the New York Post. The host asked Cuomo about a New York Times report that claimed New York government officials were delaying scheduled Medicaid payments in order to hide budget shortfalls.

The governor deflected from the question at hand, instead bringing up another Times article in an attempt to discredit the paper. Cuomo explained that the Times brushed him off when he once claimed “wop” was an anti-immigrant slur against Italian-Americans, only to later use the term in an article about racism. (RELATED: CNN Uses This ‘Ethnic Slur’ Against Italians A Lot)

During his explanation, Cuomo used the n-word and insisted he was “just quoting the Times.”

“[The] Times also said in an article the other day … going back to the Italian-Americans,” he said. “They used an expression that Southern Italians … were called, and pardon my language, I’m just quoting the Times — ‘n****r wops.’ N-word wops.”

LISTEN:

“When I said that ‘wop’ was a derogatory comment, that’s when the Times union told me, ‘No, you should look in Wikipedia. Wop really meant a dandy,'” Cuomo said, laughing at the concept. “So that’s the New York Times.”

Cuomo has previously claimed that “wop” stood for “without papers” and was used specifically to disparage Italian immigrants.