Fox News suspends former Trump adviser over what he said to black guest

Fox News reportedly suspended a former Trump deputy campaign manager over what many consider to be racially charged words used in a debate with a black guest on Sunday.

Here's what happened

The segment began with a discussion of the use of the word "Nazi" as an epithet in political discussion from the left against President Donald Trump and his allies and supporters.

"These people have lost their ever-picking minds!" said former deputy Trump campaign manager David Bossie, who is also a Fox News contributor.

“You don’t have to be a golden retriever to hear all the dog whistles coming out of the White House these days and from my friend David here,” said Democratic strategist Joel Payne, who is black.

Bossie took offense to the suggestion and fired back, "You’re out of your cotton-pickin' mind!"

Payne was clearly offended by the phrase, and informed Bossie that he had relatives who actually picked cotton. "I’m not going to sit back and let you attack me on TV like that!" he added.

Here's video of the contentious exchange:

Apologies all around

After the segment, Fox News host Ed Henry apologized to the audience, saying, “I want to make clear that Fox News and this show, myself, we don’t agree with that particular phrase. It was obviously offensive.”

Fox News also denounced Bossie's comments in a statement.

“David Bossie's comments today were deeply offensive and wholly inappropriate," the statement read. "His remarks do not reflect the sentiments of Fox News and we do not in any way condone them."

Bossie apologized on his social media account.

"During a heated segment on Fox & Friends today, I should have chosen my words more carefully and never used the offensive phrase that I did," he said. "I apologize to Joel Payne, Fox News and its viewers."

According to The Daily Beast, Bossie has been suspended from the network for two weeks.