Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Friday he told President Barack Obama in Laos that he hadn’t used foul language towards him.
Speaking to the Filipino community in Indonesia, ABC News reports, Duterte told the group what he said to Obama during their brief encounter at the ASEAN Summit: “President Obama, I’m President Duterte. I never made that statement, check it out.”
The two were scheduled to meet in Laos until reports came out on Monday that Duterte had apparently called Obama a “son of a bitch.”
Duterte has clashed with Obama over a rising death toll in the Philippines war on drugs, but he said that the media had distorted his words—he did say “swear,” it just wasn’t directed at Obama.
Obama responded to Duterte’s explanation in Laos by telling him: “My men will talk to you,” to which he replied “OK.”
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