He then went on Alex Jones's radio show to do a further pushback. When Jones quoted a segment of his remarks to him on air, Bundy replied that it wasn't "exactly what I said," adding that he did not say anything about "Picking cotton." You can clearly hear Bundy say that phrase as quoted by the Times in the video above. Jones called Bundy's denial "bombshell," presumably because he believed him. Bundy said he would "appreciate" a retraction from the Times, in part because he is not racist. Here's an audio of some of that exchange, posted to Twitter by Adrian Chen:

We're keeping a running tally of all of the people who have publicly supported Bundy before these remarks became public.

Update: Cliven Bundy gave a press conference Thursday afternoon, presumably to address his remarks. The press conference began with a statement from Bundy about the armed federal agents who confiscated his cattle. And then, a reporter asked the rancher to respond to criticism about his recent remarks.

Speaking of African Americans, Bundy asked, "are they slaves the way they are?" repeating many of his remarks from the New York Times story. He then repeated his question, "would [they] be happier at home ... with their gardens and chickens and their families having work to do?" Bundy added that he takes issue with the characterization of his remarks on slavery as a statement that black people are "better off" as slaves, because he was simply "wondering" if they were or not.

As the press conference went on, it became more and more clear that Bundy sees little to no difference between government-run social welfare programs and the actual mass enslavement of African Americans before the Civil War. Based on his remarks to the Times, and his repeated defenses of those remarks on Thursday, Bundy seems to presume that nearly all of the people who benefit from government assistance are black.

Bundy got at least one sympathetic question from the audience: "Do you believe it's irresponsible for the media to take your words out of context?" someone asked. His response was that he wouldn't "condemn" the media, because he believes his remarks have started a good conversation: "this thing about slavery and about negros and about government subsidies and the slavery that they put people in when they get them, that needs to be discussed." As he left, some of Bundy's supporters at the conference began shouting criticism at the media in attendance.

cliven bundy starts his press conference with his new black friend next to him pic.twitter.com/jwYfwQKdAI — Oliver Willis (@owillis) April 24, 2014

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.