Jackson used the N-word

CHICAGO - The Rev. Jesse Jackson used the N-word during a break in a TV interview in which he criticized presidential candidate Barack Obama, Fox News confirmed yesterday.

The civil-rights leader had already come under fire this month for crude off-air comments he made against Obama in what he thought was a private conversation during a Fox & Friends taping.

In additional comments from that same conversation, first reported by TVNewser, Jackson is reported to have said that Obama was "talking down to black people" and to have referred to blacks with the epithet when he said Obama was telling them "how to behave."

Although a Fox spokesman confirmed that Jackson used the word, the network would not release the full transcript of the July 6 show and did not broadcast the comments.

Jackson, traveling in Spain, apologized in a written statement yesterday for "hurtful words" but offered no specifics.

"I apologize again to Senator Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, their children as well as to the American public," he said. "There really is no justification for my comments, and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me."

Jackson has called on the entertainment industry, including rappers, actors and studios, to stop using the N-word.