Kentucky Republican candidate Dan Johnson admitted that he would rather lose the election than quit posting racist subjects on his Facebook page.
According to WDRB-TV, Johnson has been sharing racist content on social media referring to President Barack Obama as a monkey, among other obvious racist messages.
Johnson, who is challenging Democratic state Rep. Linda Belcher for a seat in the 49th district statehouse, is also the bishop of the Heart of Fire Church in Louisville and has repeatedly called for states to ban the practice of Islam.
When confronted by a reporter, Johnson asked which of his Facebook posts could be considered racist. The reporter showed him posts that showed the Obama family with ape-like features.
The Republican candidate insists that the images were meant to be light-hearted amusement.
“It wasn’t meant to be racist, I can tell you that — my history’s good there,” Johnson said. “I can see how people would be offended in that. I wasn’t trying to offend anybody, but, I think Facebook’s entertaining.”
Johnson compared the images he posted of America’s first black president to be no different than the insults other presidents had to face.
“I looked this up — there has been no president that hasn’t had that scrutiny, not one,” Johnson said. “I think it would be racist not to do the same for President Obama as we’ve done for every other president.”
“I love America, I love people,” the GOP candidate said. “I believe red, yellow, black and white, all are precious in God’s site. I’m not a racist.”
Although Johnson insists that he is not racist, he refuses to apologize for the posts.
Johnson said that his self-expression was more important than winning an election. He has since deactivated his Facebook account.
“I want to be myself,” Johnson said. “I would rather be myself than be elected as state representative of the 49th.”