Bernie Sanders held a very large rally in New York Wednesday night. However the rally was marred by one speaker, Dr. Paul Song, who made a statement many, including MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, interpreted as calling Hillary Clinton a “corporate Democratic whore.”

Looking at what Dr. Song actually said, it’s not clear he was referring to Clinton. In fact there is some reason to think that is not the case. Earlier in his brief speech, Song specifically said he had respect for Clinton and that Clinton had personally helped his family. He then said this:

“Now Secretary Clinton has said Medicare for all will never happen. [crowd boos] Well I agree with Secretary Clinton that Medicare for all will never happen if we have a president who never aspires for something greater than the status quo. [cheers] Medicare for all will never happen if we continue to elect corporate Democratic whores who are beholden to big pharma and the private insurance industry instead of us. But Senator Sanders rightfully recognizes that he can not do this alone. It first starts with us electing him president and ends with us voting out every corporatist Democrat and replacing them with Berniecrats.”

So Dr. Song does say Clinton would be a president who did not aspire to more than the status quo. He then talks about “corporate Democratic whores” as if they are a separate category. This same split is present in the next part of his statement in which step one is electing Sanders president and step two is getting rid of “corporatist Democrats.” Again, two categories (president/congress) and Dr. Song’s second reference to congress is nearly the same as his first (“corporate Democratic whores” vs. “corporatist Democrat”). On Twitter, he maintained that was his intent all along:

https://twitter.com/paulysong/status/720411192058097664

https://twitter.com/paulysong/status/720413493325905920

https://twitter.com/paulysong/status/720416305699024898

Nevertheless, the Clinton campaign demanded Sanders disavow the comments:

Very distressing language to say the least. @BernieSanders should disavow. https://t.co/xSNZyHwlAS

— Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) April 14, 2016

Note that Palmieri doesn’t specifically claim the “whore” remark was directed at Clinton, which is smart because it probably was not. In any case, Bernie Sanders did disavow the comments Thursday morning on Twitter:

Dr. Song's comment was inappropriate and insensitive. There's no room for language like that in our political discourse.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 14, 2016

Here is a video of Dr. Song’s speech for anyone who wants to hear it for themselves. The part about “corporate Democratic whores” comes just after the 4 minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcy5a11SvxQ