August 16, 2012: “He’s really trying to use racial coding and access some really deep stereotypes about the angry black man,” said Touré, co-host of MSNBC’s of “The Cycle” on Mitt Romney’s tactics against Obama against President Obama. “This is part of the playbook against Obama. The otherization, he’s not like us. I know it’s a heavy thing to say. I don’t say it lightly. But this is ni–erization. You are not one of us, and that you are like the scary black man who we’ve been trained to fear.”
Touré issued an apology a day later stating, “On yesterday’s show in discussion about the presidential race, I used a word to make a point. In retrospect, I muddied the discussion by using the ‘N-word,'” he said at the end of the opening segment. “I could’ve made my point without that word. I shouldn’t have used it, and for that I’m sorry.”