--- description: Mark Burns, Donald Trump's top pastor, tweeted images of Hillary Clinton in dreadlocks and blackface Monday. title: Trump Surrogate Tweets Cartoon of Clinton in Blackface image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24b12c9c1ae584b3/69888f03cf40a862a2c42ce1/donald-trump-prosperity-preachers-election-2016-09.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump Surrogate Tweets Cartoon of Hillary Clinton in Blackface  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:21 AM CUTPublished: Aug 29, 2016 8:41 PM CUT  Pastor Mark Burns, co-founder CEO of Christian Television Network, in New York on Nov. 30, 2015. Pastor Mark Burns, co-founder CEO of Christian Television Network, in New York on Nov. 30, 2015.Richard Drew—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:21 AM CUTPublished: Aug 29, 2016 8:41 PM CUT A top pastor in Donald Trump’s campaign who spoke at the Republican convention tweeted images of Hillary Clinton in dreadlocks and blackface Monday, arguing she panders to get African American votes. [Pastor Mark Burns](http://time.com/trump-pastor/ "undefined"), who is black, said that the Democratic nominee “uses” black people for their votes, and included a drawing of the former Secretary of State in blackface, holding a sign that says “#@!\*\* the police,” and wearing a shirt that says “no [hot sauce](http://time.com/4297996/hillary-clinton-hot-sauce/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined"), no peace.” > [](https://twitter.com/pastormarkburns/status/770316740509233152) Later in the day, he re-tweeted a doctored meme of Clinton with dreadlocks. > [](https://twitter.com/mrdavidswilliam/status/770348074824716288) Burns apologized for the tweets on Tuesday morning, while repeating his argument that Democrats are using black voters. “I’m so sorry for the offensive #Blackface image of @HillaryClinton but stand by the message that we Blacks ARE being Used by #Dems for VOTES,” he [posted](https://twitter.com/pastormarkburns/status/770578323449798656 "undefined"). Burns’s tweets come as the candidates have escalated their attacks against each other on this issue. Trump has recently said [African Americans are a “focal point”](http://time.com/4466179/donald-trump-black-voters-election/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") of his campaign, and has [called Clinton a “bigot.”](http://time.com/4465543/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bigot-mississippi-rally/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") Last week, Trump [released a new Instagram video](http://time.com/4468141/donald-trump-video-hillary-clinton-black-voters/?xid=tcoshare "undefined") pointing to Clinton’s 2008 struggles to win over black voters just one day after [she gave a speech](http://time.com/4466218/hillary-clinton-reno-donald-trump-hate-groups/?xid=homepage "undefined") calling him “a man with a long history of racial discrimination.” A [recent NBC News/Survey Monkey poll](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-faces-hurdle-minority-voters-clinton-maintains-lead-poll-shows-n636061 "undefined") found Trump with just 8% support among black voters. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4471607/mark-burns-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-african-americans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4471607/mark-burns-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-african-americans/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Surrogate Tweets Cartoon of Hillary Clinton in Blackface","datePublished":"2016-08-29T20:41:53.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T03:21:49.000Z","description":"Mark Burns, Donald Trump's top pastor, tweeted images of Hillary Clinton in dreadlocks and blackface Monday.","url":"https://time.com/4471607/mark-burns-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-african-americans/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24b12c9c1ae584b3/69888f03cf40a862a2c42ce1/donald-trump-prosperity-preachers-election-2016-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24b12c9c1ae584b3/69888f03cf40a862a2c42ce1/donald-trump-prosperity-preachers-election-2016-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Prosperity Preachers","caption":"Pastor Mark Burns, co-founder CEO of Christian Television Network, in New York on Nov. 30, 2015.","creditText":"Richard Drew—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4471607/mark-burns-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-african-americans/","name":"Donald Trump Surrogate Tweets Cartoon of Hillary Clinton in Blackface"}}]}] ```