NEW YORK Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) apologized Wednesday formocking O. J. Simpson trial Judge Lance Ito by talking in a phonyJapanese accent.
D'Amato's remarks, made Tuesday on a nationally syndicated radioprogram, infuriated Japanese Americans.
"If I offended anyone, I'm sorry," he said. "I was making funof the pomposity of the judge and the manner in which he's draggingthe trial out."
D'Amato launched into his imitation when he and radio host DonImus were discussing reopening Senate Banking Committee hearings onWhitewater.
Imus suggested that D'Amato, who is committee chairman, wouldn'tattract as large an audience as long as the Simpson trial is goingon. "Judge Ito will never let it end," D'Amato said in a fake accent."Judge Ito loves the limelight. He is making a disgrace of thejudicial system. Little Judge Ito. . . . Judge Ito will keep usfrom getting television for the next year."
Cyril Nishimoto, director of Manhattan-based Japanese AmericanSocial Services, denounced the remarks as "racist and completelyinsensitive."
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