Comedian Don Rickles jokingly compared President Obama to a janitor late last week, but that doesn't make him a racist, his spokesman insists.

"It was a joke as were the other comments Don made that night," a rep for Rickles told POLITICO. "Anyone who knows him knows he's not a racist."

Rickles told the controversial joke during a tribute to actress Shirley MacLaine on Thursday according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

Read Rickles' original comments

“I shouldn’t make fun of the blacks,” Rickles said, adding: “President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”

Insulting humor, of course, is the hallmark of the act of the 86-year-old Rickles.