Elvis Barukcic/AFP via Getty Images UKIP candidate sorry for claiming gay donkey raped his horse Leadership hopeful says 2014 comments were ‘playful banter’ but admits he made a mistake.

A United Kingdom Independence Party leadership hopeful on Monday apologized for claiming a “homosexual donkey” tried to rape his horse.

John Rees-Evans admitted he had made a mistake with his comment in 2014, but told the BBC's Daily Politics that it was "playful banter."

He told the story about his horse in December 2014, while campaigning for UKIP in Wales ahead of the May 2015 general election. An anti-UKIP demonstrator asked him to respond to controversial quotes from fellow party members, including that “some homosexuals prefer sex with animals.”

“Actually, I’ve witnessed that,” Rees-Evans said. “I’ve got a horse and it was there in the field. And a donkey came up … which was male, and I’m afraid tried to rape my horse.”

On Monday, Rees-Evans said his earlier comments were “a bit of playful banter with a mischievous activist."

He added: "I concede it was a mistake to be playful with an activist in the street. The fact is I’m not a politician, the guy was just asking me questions in the street. It was an error of judgment. I was very early coming into politics.”

Rees-Evans has thrown his hat into the ring to lead the Euroskeptic party, which has been searching for a new leader since Diane James stepped down just 18 days after replacing Nigel Farage.

The one-time favorite to become leader, Steven Woolfe, quit UKIP earlier this month, calling the party “ungovernable” and “riddled with infighting.”

In early October, Woolfe was taken to a hospital in Strasbourg after an argument with another UKIP MEP, Mike Hookem. According to press reports, the two MEPs exchanged harsh words during a meeting and then left the room. Woolfe later collapsed in the European Parliament.