BET co-founder Robert Johnson has condemned Joe Biden for claiming that black people aren’t really black if they don’t vote for him.

“VP Biden’s statement today represents the arrogant and out-of-touch attitude of a paternalistic white candidate who has the audacity to tell Black people, the descendants of slaves, that they are not Black unless they vote for him,” Johnson said in a statement obtained by Fox News’s Bret Baier.

“This proves unequivocally that the Democratic nominee believes that Black people owe him their vote without question; even though, we as Black people know it is exactly the opposite.  He should spend the rest of his campaign apologizing to every Black person he meets.”

Robert Johnson is the co-founder of Black Entertainment Television, which was acquired by Viacom in 2001. The cable channel is the biggest TV network dedicated to black audiences.  Johnson currently heads the asset management firm RLJ Companies.

Joe Biden made the inflammatory remark Friday during an interview on The Breakfast Club radio show.

“If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black,” Biden told host Charlamagne. Biden’s remark wasn’t in response to any question, but to the host’s statement: “It’s a long way until November, we’ve got more questions.”

The presidential candidate’s comment has drawn swift rebuke from black conservatives, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). Prominent black cultural figures including Sean “Diddy” Combs have also questioned Biden’s comment.

But a campaign spokeswoman said that Biden’s remark was intended to be in jest.

“Vice President Biden spent his career fighting alongside and for the African American community. He won his party’s nomination by earning every vote and meeting people where they are and that’s exactly what he intends to do this November,” spokeswoman Symone Sanders wrote on social media.

“The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest, but let’s be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump’s any day. Period,” she tweeted.

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