Donald Trump has been forced into a humiliating climbdown, cancelling a major campaign event after black church leaders complained that a private meeting was being billed as a public endorsement of the leading Republican presidential candidate.
Journalists had been invited to Trump Tower in New York today to hear 100African-American evangelical pastors endorse Trump following the meeting.
But the claim prompted a number of angry denials from those involved who said they had simply agreed to hear the candidate set out his position on key issues. Others said they had declined the invitation altogether.
Bishop Clarence McClendon, a pastor well-known for his role in the reality show The Preachers of LA, said on Facebook: "The meeting was presented not as a meeting to endorse but a meeting to engage in dialogue."
Plans for the press conference were announced after a black activist was forcibly ejected from a Trump campaign rally in Alabama. Mercutio Southall said he was punched and kicked by the mostly white crowd as he was bundled out of the event.
The episode is a reminder that Trump's supporters are largely white and working class and that he struggles to attract black supporters.
Bishop Corletta Vaughn, Senior Pastor of The Holy Ghost Cathedral and the star of another reality show, Preachers of Detroit, explained on Facebook why she had refused to attend: "Trump is an insult and embarrassment. But he represents the country we have become. Zero experience. Flaunting a ticket of unbridled bigotry, sexism, racism and everything that is wrong with America."
