With Pence in the audience, Maryland pastor denounces Trump's vulgar comments

Mike Pence.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

During his sermon on Sunday, with Vice President Mike Pence sitting in one of the pews in front of him, Pastor Maurice Watson called President Trump's reported use of a vulgarity to describe Haiti, El Salvador, and African nations "ugly" and "dehumanizing."

Watson is pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo, Maryland, and noted that several of his parishioners are from Africa. Watson said he felt "led by God" to speak up against "whoever made such a statement," referring to Trump calling those countries "shitholes" during a meeting with lawmakers, and his congregants stood and applauded. WUSA-TV reports Pence became "red-faced" during the sermon; in an email sent to The Associated Press on Monday, Pence's office denied this happened.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.