Congressman Rogers Apologized for 'Chinese Talk' Joke

The office of U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., has issued an apology to anyone who took offense to a joke he made about a Chinese diplomat.  Speaking at a gala dinner at Mount Vernon on Wednesday,  Rogers, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, made a wisecrack about a Chinese ambassador attempting to pronounce Louisville using broken English.

“There’s a lot of debate on how you pronounce, how locals pronounce the biggest city in Kentucky. Some say Louie-ville. Some say Louis-ville, some say Loy-ville, some say Loueee-ville,” he said. “He had been to the Kentucky Derby and he said, ‘you know, the Kentucky Derby, this and that, is located in a city and you need to know how to pronounce the name of.’ He said, ‘it’s not Rouee-ville, it’s Roo-i-ville.”

Political observers have lambasted the congressman for imitating Chinese talk and point out that conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh does it better.