Recently, while speaking to a room that was largely full of black people, Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg mistakenly referred to unlimited PAC contributions and expenditures as “black money.”

At the appearance in South Carolina, Buttigieg was explaining that he is "not a fan of the current campaign finance system" and that a permanent solution would require constitutional reform. This is when suddenly things got real awkward.

"So, there are things we can do right away. We can deal with black money... uhhh... uhhh.. ahhh. Sorry. Dark money."

The moderator jokingly added, "African American money," and the crowd reacted with laughter, most likely appreciative of the well-timed comedic relief.

Buttigieg then somewhat recovered by joking, "I'm always happy to take black money contributions in my campaign," but not before his awkwardness on race issues had surfaced again at an inopportune moment.

Pete accidentally calls “dark money” “black money” while speaking to a room of black people. He then makes it so awkward that it physically hurt to watch this video.

pic.twitter.com/ImMvC2DE3u — Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 11, 2020

Rival candidate Joe Biden hit on Buttigieg's perceived weakness on race in a recent campaign ad focused on his time as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Toward the end of the spot, a narrator says, "Former Mayor Pete fired the first African America Police Chief of South Bend. And then forced out the African American fire chief too."

Ouch. The South Carolina primary should be interesting.