The current D.C. mayor told D.C.'s NBC affiliate he hadn't heard about Barry's comments. Barry: Remarks 'out of context'

Former District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry referred to “dirty” Asian-owned businesses after winning the city’s Council Ward 8 primary, demanding that “they ought to go,” according to a report.

“We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” Barry said on Tuesday night, according to video posted by WRC-TV/NBC4. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.”


On Thursday afternoon, Barry’s Twitter account began tweeting out pictures of Asian restaurant establishments, insisting that his comments were “taken out of context” and that he was not trying to insult the Asian community.

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“WE can do a better job. I do NOT disparage the Asian community, but the fact is there r some bizs that can do better!” he wrote alongside a picture of the China Inn Deli, a restaurant in the Southeast area of Washington, D.C.

“These are the kinds of businesses that need 2 improve.We’ve cleaned up Ward8 in so many ways & most businesses r good,” he tweeted with another picture, alongside other tweets criticizing the use of plexiglass that separate customers from staff.

“My comments were taken out of context & construed as disparaging 2 entire Asian biz community. We DO deserve our bizs t/b nice places in W8!” he wrote.

Mayor Vincent Gray said earlier that he hadn’t heard about the comments.

“I think you know what I stand for,” he said, according to the local outlet. “And that is everybody having an equal opportunity in the District of Columbia.”

The comments go counter to Barry’s claim on his D.C. Councilmember biography, that he stands for “always advocating for economic inclusion - on behalf of African Americans, women, Hispanics, Asians and Pacific Islanders.”

( Also on POLITICO: Marion Barry: Sorry for 'dirty' remark)

Of course, this is not the first time that Barry has found himself in a controversial situation. In 1990, Barry was arrested in a sting operation related to crack cocaine use and possession, for which he spent six months in a federal prison.