WORLD: TV presenter labels Obama ‘a racist who hates whites’

Barack Obama has been accused of being a racist by a TV chat host.

Glenn Beck, a conservative presenter on Fox News, said he believed the president had a "deep-seated hatred" for white people and their culture.

His astonishing claim came during a discussion of Mr Obama's reaction to the arrest of a black Harvard University scholar by white policeman.

Mr Obama had said the police had acted "stupidly" over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr, one of America's most respected professors. He later backtracked on his remarks and invited Professor Gates and the arresting officer to the White House tomorrow to settle the matter over a drink.

Beck has long been a critic of Mr Obama and leapt on his remarks. He told viewers of the Fox And Friends show that Obama had exposed himself as a "person with a deep-seated hatred for white people or white culture".

He was challenged by host Brian Kilmeade, who said most people who worked for the nation's first black president were white.

"I'm not saying he doesn't like white people," Beck said. "He has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."

Beck wondered what other president would immediately jump on the police for their actions in the case. Fox TV chiefs moved swiftly to say remarks were a personal opinion and not that of the channel, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Bill Shine, Fox News senior vice president of programming, said Beck had "expressed a personal opinion which represented his own views, not those of the Fox News Channel".

White House officials remained silent about the remarks.

Beck, 45, has been on Fox for less than a year after moving from CNN. Conservative talk show hosts have been unrelenting in their criticism of Obama. In particular over his £1 trillion plans to overhaul the US health system.

Professor Gates was arrested after struggling to open the door to his home in the white, middle-class area around Harvard University. A neighbour called police and when they arrived Professor Gates, 58, refused to step out on the porch and was arrested. Charges of disorderly conduct were later dropped.