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A man who failed in his bid to hang Confederate flags in a US court used a racial slur when discussing Martin Luther King in a car-crash interview.

Russell Walker, from South Carolina, said "Martin Luther c**n" when he spoke about the civil rights leader as a judge dismissed his legal challenge.

Apparently he meant to say King, and quickly corrected himself.

Walker, who says Confederate flags were not a "symbol of racism", said the remark was a mistake but then only made things worse.

He told reporters outside court: "I don't believe [the confederate flag] is a symbol of racism. I don't believe it's a symbol of slavery.

(Image: Spectrum News) (Image: Spectrum News)

"That's my personal view but how they feel is their business," he continued. "It would be ludicrous of me to tell you how they feel.

"Hey, I go down the street I see Martin Luther c***."

Walker quickly corrects himself "I shouldn't say that. I mean, Martin Luther King."

Without being questioned over use of the slur, Walker continued: "Should I rip the signs down or insist they take Martin Luther King Street down or the rest of that stuff.

"That's a public thing I don't necessarily agree with it but it's the way it is."

(Image: Reuters)

The remarks come amid furious protests over Confederate monuments in the wake of violent clashes across the US as the race controversy grips the nation.

Earlier this month, paralegal Heather Heyer was killed while protesting against far-right activisits in Charlottesville who objected to the planned removal of Confederate general Robert E Lee.

(Image: REUTERS) (Image: Getty Images North America)

Several pro-slavery Civil War Confederacy monuments have been removed by authorities fearing they spark further violence as the race controversy grips the US.

A statue of a Confederate soldier in front of the old Durham County Courthouse in Durham, North Carolina was toppled during a protest on August 14.

While Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has called for the removal of a state of US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney in front of the Maryland State House in Annapolis.

Taney was the author of the Dred Scott decision, which declared that black people could not be US citizens, a ruling since considered one of the worst in American history.