Marion Barry doubles down on 'dirty' Asian shop comments; update: tripling down?

As Twitchy noted this morning, Councilman Marion Barry stated during his Tuesday night victory speech, “we got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go.” With the story receiving considerable attention today, Barry is now defending himself on Twitter. Barry believes that his comments were taken out of context and, he claims, he was only referring to certain Asian business owners. He even tweeted out pictures of the businesses he doesn’t like.

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187941681503543298

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187942384225615872

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187943133298950145

He then urged the owners of the businesses he spotlighted to join the “Ward8 Renaissance” which was, of course, a complete reversal from his earlier demand that the Asian owners be forced out and replaced with “African-American business people.”

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187943675467272192

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187944330357522432

He then attacked those who found his statements hateful and vile.

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187948560476667908

https://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187949246723522560

Apparently Barry feels that he is the real victim in all of this. Somehow his comments that Asian business owners “ought to go” were not the least bit racist and are just being used by outsiders to try and smear the residents of Ward 8. It was all just another set up as the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein mockingly points out.

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https://twitter.com/#!/philipaklein/status/187946927302782976

Finally, it is worth asking whether Asians have a monopoly on “dirty” Ward 8 businesses.

http://twitter.com/#!/ruSERIOUSINGme/status/187953491896045568

The mayor of Washington DC, Vincent Gray, tweets that he is “deeply disappointed” by Barry’s comments.

Barry now says he is “very sorry.” Not really, though:

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187971434189037568

Another “apology.” He acknowledges he could have said things differently, but he’s sticking to the story that his comments were “taken out of context.” He is now using race-neutral language — “W8 carryouts,” “food places in Ward8,” “some stores”  — rather than “‘dirty’ Asian-owned businesses.”

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187995195466465280

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187996557642178560

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187997566565236736

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187998364942606336

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187998779448889344

Here he seems to be tripling down:

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187999124937916417

And he’s still going…

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/187999571224444930

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/188000411372888064

http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/188000972109393920