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The CEO of Agribition says a rodeo clown’s joke about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being struck by a bus was inappropriate and not reflective of the event’s values.

The joke was made by Dennis Halstead, a well-known rodeo clown from Okotoks, Alta., during his performance Wednesday at Agribition’s opening night of the Maple Leaf Finals Rodeo in Regina. According to a tweet posted by Regina resident Megan McCormick, Halstead joked about being the driver of a bus that hits Trudeau.

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Photo by TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post

Agribition CEO Chris Lane said he spoke to Halstead about the joke, and that the performer was apologetic for the incident.

“Well it’s inappropriate, that’s pretty clear. It’s not reflective of Agribition’s values that’s for certain. I had a conversation with Dennis about it. He has apologized. I think he’s feeling pretty bad about it today, so we did have a conversation about the appropriateness of that,” said Lane.

“That kind of stuff really doesn’t belong at our rodeo, so he’s making sure that that’s not going to happen again.”

Lane said Halstead will be performing throughout the rodeo until Saturday.

Halstead has won several awards for his work as a rodeo clown. He is a seven-time winner of Pro Rodeo Entertainer of The Year and a two-time Canadian Finals rodeo clown/barrelman.

mmelnychuk@postmedia.com