Black children have a 99 percent chance of killing one whereas white cops pose a 1 percent risk, said former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a TV interview. He added that the slogan “Black Lives Matter” is “inherently racist and anti-American.”

Giuliani made the controversial comments on Sunday's CBS show ‘Face the Nation’ amid an ongoing period of racially-loaded protest in the US, following several killings of black men by white police officers and a black gunman targeting white cops in Dallas.

“There is too much violence in the black community – so a black will die one percent or less at the hands of the police and 99 percent at the hands of a civilian, most often another black,” he said.

Rudy Giuliani: "Black lives matter" is racist, anti-American https://t.co/1RTDpFhbcN — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) July 10, 2016

He used the number to argue that the black community shares part of the blame for the racial tension in America and fails to see the problem of violence among them, while putting a disproportionate focus on the killings of black people by white law enforcement officers.

The former mayor repeated the argument on Monday, defying criticism.

“Don’t tell me I don’t care about black lives,” he said, appearing on Fox News’s Fox & Friends. “I had an uncle who died in the line of duty. I had uncles who went out every night and tried to protect black people, and white people, and all people. A lot of the protection of this city of New York is for black people, because 70 percent of the murders in New York City are black. So it has to be that way. I believe I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter.”

JUST IN: Giuliani: "I saved a lot more black lives than Black Lives Matter" https://t.co/jSUNUh2jynpic.twitter.com/fsol0kDylm — The Hill (@thehill) July 11, 2016

Giuliani’s apparently rhetorical figure may be derived from the FBI’s 2014 homicide statistics which recorded that 90 percent of black people are killed by black people. For comparison white people are killed by white people 82 percent of time, the same statistic shown.

Interestingly, white men are more likely to shoot and kill a cop than black men, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks police fatalities. As of May, 71 percent of officers were killed by white people.

Giuliani’s advice to the black community is to teach respect for the police.

“You’ve got to teach your children to be respectful to the police and you’ve got to teach your children that the real danger to them is not the police, the real danger to them 99 of 100 times are other black kids who are going to kill them,” he said, while acknowledging that “some” police are a danger to black people.

Rudy Giuliani has a 99% chance of being terrible at statistics. https://t.co/9hCi5iGTiF — Clint Smith (@ClintSmithIII) July 10, 2016

The police, he added, must see that there is a dominating sense of fear of them in the black community, whether it is justified or not, and maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards disrespect by officers towards people of color.

Giuliani also criticized the Black Lives Matter protest movement, branding the slogan as “inherently racist” and “anti-American” for focusing on black lives only.

“Black lives matter, white lives matter, Asian lives matter, Hispanic lives matter. That’s anti-American and it’s racist,” he said.

He said the movement is painting “a target on the back” of police officers by drawing disproportionate attention to the killings of black men by white cops.

“Every cop in America will tell you that if you ask them,” Giuliani said.

Unsurprisingly the controversial comments sparked a backlash online resulting in Rudy Giuliani trending across the US on Twitter.

Having Rudy Giuliani on your news show to talk about racism, is like having Bill Cosby on to talk about rape culture. — Desi (@DesiJed) July 10, 2016

Whenever I see Rudy Giuliani trending I take 30 seconds to mentally prepare myself myself to hear/read something horribly idiotic & bigoted — Jake Oliver (@jolivernyc) July 8, 2016

when you see Rudy Giuliani trending pic.twitter.com/HWpWUmABcK — side-eye spice (@goldengateblond) July 8, 2016

Giuliani's statement illustrates a complete lack of empathy, intelligence, and social awareness #racisthttps://t.co/xxIgBv257v — Ralph Kellogg (@ralphk_k) July 10, 2016