Rodrigo Duterte unleashed a profanity-laced tirade that led to Obama canceling a planned talk. He's now walked back the comments.
The Philippines president, who unleashed a profanity-laced rant in which he called President Obama a "son of a b****," now wants the most powerful man in the world to know he didn't mean anything by it.
Rodrigo Duterte was slated to meet with Obama as part of the American president's visit to Asia until his tirade Monday led the White House to cancel.
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Angry at news reports that Obama intended to confront him about extrajudicial killings of drug dealers in his country, the AP reports that Duterte spouted:
"Who does he think he is? I am no American puppet. I am the president of a sovereign country and I am not answerable to anyone except the Filipino people. Son of a bitch, I will swear at you."
Despite the abrupt cancellation of their scheduled meeting, Obama mostly brushed off Duterte's remarks.
"Clearly, he's a colorful guy," Obama said during a news conference in China. "If I'm having a meeting, it's productive and we're getting something done."
Obama also called the Philippines a close "friend and ally" of the U.S.
A day later, Duterte is getting international attention for his colorful comments, and has walked back the statements.
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"It came across as a personal attack on the U.S. President," Duterte said through a spokesman. "We look forward to ironing out differences arising out of national priorities and perceptions."
This is not the first time the outspoken president has criticized the U.S. He has previously questioned the country's inability to stop genocidal killings in the Middle East and Africa and cited controversial U.S. police shootings of black Americans.
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