Openly-gay actor George Takei went on a shocking and often incoherent rant in an interview with a Phoenix TV station, calling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas “a clown in blackface sitting there on the Supreme Court.” Thomas had written a dissent with the Supreme Court’s decision in favor of gay marriage in all 50 states.

Oh my.

https://youtu.be/SE8NXAMKfcM

Takei’s racist tirade was largely ignored by liberal websites. A search by Sean Davis of The Federalist into sites The Huffington Post, Think Progress, Vox, Mother Jones, and Talking Points Memo yielded no results for the Takei harangue. None. Nada. Nothing to see here, kids, move along.

But on social media the rant was trending. On Thursday night, Takei decided to attempt some damage control. But did he apologize? No, he doubled down and tried to excuse his comment at Facebook:

A few fans have written wondering whether I intended to utter a racist remark by referring to Justice Thomas as a “clown in blackface.”

“Blackface” is a lesser known theatrical term for a white actor who blackens his face to play a black buffoon. In traditional theater lingo, and in my view and intent, that is not racist. It is instead part of a racist history in this country.

Twitter followers weren’t buying the excuse.