Donald Trump wants you to know that when he called former Miss Universe Alicia Machado "Miss Housekeeping," "Miss Piggy," and told Howard Stern that she was an "eating machine" after she gained weight in 1996, he was really just doing it "for purposes of entertainment." Because, haha, what is funnier than an adult man body-shaming a 19-year-old woman?

Trump renewed his attacks against Machado last week, after Hillary Clinton mentioned her at the first presidential debate. Days later, the Associated Press reported that Trump "repeatedly demeaned women with sexist language, according to show insiders" on The Apprentice. But in a TV interview with Las Vegas station KSNV on Wednesday, the Republican presidential candidate said his remarks were all just for fun.

Mentioning that Trump has two daughters, KSNV’s Jim Snyder asked, “Do you understand the concern from parents of younger girls that some of the wording that you’ve used to talk about attractiveness or unattractiveness might make it more difficult for girls who are struggling with their body image and the pressure to be model-perfect?”

“Sure I do," said Trump. "And you know, a lot of this is done in the entertainment business. I’m being interviewed for Apprentice long before I ever thought in terms of running for office."

“But a lot of that was done for the purpose of entertainment,” Trump continued. “I can tell you this: There is nobody — nobody — that has more respect for women than I do."

This is not the first time that Trump has dismissed his sexism as humor. In a radio interview in March, Trump similarly said that his insults against women were all in good fun. "Well, number one, I’m no different than anybody else, and people joke, and I joke."



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Prachi Gupta Prachi Gupta is an award-winning journalist based in New York.

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