Worcester Mayor Caught on Hot Mic Calling Trump Protesters ‘Freakin’ Morons’

He's since apologized.

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Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty has learned a lesson President Donald Trump knows all too well: Always be wary of a live microphone.

Nearly a thousand demonstrators peacefully protesting Trump’s Muslim travel ban gathered at Worcester City Hall, delaying the start of Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

“Freakin’ morons,” Petty could be heard saying on the hot mic after the protesters’ chants disrupted the start of the meeting. “Morons, morons, morons.”

But later in the meeting, Petty seemed to have changed his tune, lavishing praise on the same protesters he had insulted. “I want to thank all the people for coming out tonight,” he said, according to MassLive. “You made Worcester proud.”

“First of all, let me apologize for my remarks,” Petty wrote in a statement. “I had just witnessed a thousand people outside city hall delivering a positive and respectful message, and I did not want their voices to be lost. For anyone who has been caught on a hot mic, it’s embarrassing. I was caught in a moment of frustration and I was wrong.”