In a heated exchange on ABC’s “This Week,” Byron Donalds and George Stephanopoulos debated Kamala Harris’ racial identity and her political record, with Donalds defending criticism of Harris while Stephanopoulos accused him of perpetuating a racial slur.

Stephanopoulos began by challenging Donalds on why he and others continue to question Harris’ racial identity. “And you just repeated the slur again. If it doesn’t matter, why do you all keep questioning her identity? She’s always identified as a black woman. She is biracial. She has a Jamaican father and Indian mother. She’s always identified as both. Why are you questioning that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

An unhinged George Stephanopoulos threw a tantrum this morning over Kamala Harris’s “racial identity”

George: “I don’t understand why you keep on repeating it. Why the president keeps repeating it”

Byron: “George, actually I’m not the one who keeps repeating it…you’re the one… pic.twitter.com/tJ84k24GZJ

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Donalds responded, “Well, George, first of all, this is something that’s actually a conversation throughout social media right now. There are a lot of people trying to figure this out. But again, that’s a side issue, not the main issue. The main issue…”

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Stephanopoulos interrupted, pressing, “Sir, one second, you just did it. You just did it again. Why do you insist on questioning her racial identity?”

Donalds replied, “George, do you want to talk or do you want me to talk?”

Stephanopoulos insisted, “I want you to answer my question.”

After some back and forth, Donalds defended his position by highlighting criticisms of Harris’ political performance. “George, now that you’re done yelling at me. Let me answer. He talked about it on the stage yesterday in Atlanta for what two minutes. He spent more than 35-40 minutes going after her record, talking about how radical of a senator that she was. She was the most liberal senator in the United States, as in the United States Senate, that is a fact. He talked about the job that she did as Vice President of the United States, a job I will add, which has been a failure for the American people. I know you guys like to (inaudible) on to this that he talks about in jest or or in a serious manner for about a minute or so, but what you do not cover is the litany of failures of Kamala Harris. That’s what you’re not covering George.”

Stephanopoulos challenged Donalds’ focus on racial identity, asking, “So questioning somebody’s racial identity for a couple of couple minutes. Is okay?”

Donalds responded by shifting the focus back to policy. “George, I tell you again, he brought it up. AP is the one that wrote the headline when she first came in to the United States Senate, didn’t talk about her being black. Talked about her being the first Indian American senator. AP brought that up. I mean, George, we could have this conversation for the entire segment, but none of this matters to the American people. What matters to the American people is, are we going to have the same policies of the Biden Harris administration that has been destructive of the American people, or are we going to have the policies of the Trump administration, which put America first, had low inflation, prosperous Americans, no matter your race, no matter your color, no matter your creed, and a foreign policy that kept America safe, those are the facts that truly matter, because this issue is going to come and go. The lives of the American people, is what’s going to remain, and that’s what matters more than anything else.”

Stephanopoulos, undeterred, questioned, “If it doesn’t matter, I don’t understand why you keep on repeating it, why the President keeps on repeating it, why those introducing the president,”

Donalds countered, “George, actually, I’m not the one who keeps repeating it. George, you’re the one that’s bringing it up now.”

Stephanopoulos accused Donalds of repeating the slur, stating, “You’ve done it, sir, you’ve done it. You’ve done it three times. Every single answer you gave me. Now let me finish, Sir. Every single answer you gave you repeated the slur.”

Donalds defended himself, saying, “George, that’s why I’m pushing back on you now. George, you asked the question three times I responded.”