hating on anyone. i did it to be funny, i did it to be a joke. reporter: it was a joke that caused an uproar. president obama. hey, i know the clown, he s just running around acting like one, doesn t know he is one. this is tuffy guess ling, who ignited controversy, an act some called racist. that got him banned from the missouri state fair for life. i ve had somebody threaten to run me over. one of them wanted to burn the house down. this clown bit has been around for generations, and i didn t think anything more of it than what we have done 15 years ago, so years ago, 5 years ago, when we ve done it with bush and clinton, and ronald reagan. some conservative talk show hosts who game to gessling s this is infant aisle.
reporter: the president hasn t commented. i can tell you as a native missourian, certainly not one of the finer moments for our state. reporter: now that the dust has settled, gessling would like to clear things up. i never did anything because of anybody s race. i don t care what anybody s color is. it doesn t bother me one bit. reporter: gessling says he ll bet at another roddy. if president obama turns out, i would be honored to shake his hand. reporter: athena jones, cnn, washington. still to come in the newsroom room be ware of the habo haboob. arizona gets hit again. [ male announcer ] for diarrhea, you take kaopectate.