Jesse Jackson did use the ‘n-word’

The veteran black civil rights activist Jesse Jackson caused a furore last week when he was caught off-air by a Fox News microphone whispering to a co-guest about Barack Obama: "See, Barack's been talking down to black people," before adding: "I want to cut his nuts off". At the time, The First Post reported that rumours were swirling around Fox News that worse was to come. And so it has proved. Fox admitted on Wednesday that Jackson had also used what Americans call the “n word” when talking about Obama, saying that he was "talking down to black people… telling niggers how to behave".

While the confirmation from Fox is bad news for Jackson, Roger Ailes, Fox’s head of news, has come to his aid by rebutting a flood of other rumours doing the rounds. He said: "I can categorically deny [a report that Jackson called Obama a] 'half-breed nigger'." While the executive producer of the O'Reilly Factor, the show Jackson had been appearing on when he made his controversial remarks, pointed out that at least Jackson did not actually address Obama himself with the n-word.

However, Jackson has been forced to apologise - again. "There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me."