Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy on Friday tried to clarify his controversial remarks on race, saying African-Americans shouldn’t have been offended when he used the word “Negro.”

Bundy, appearing on CNN’s “New Day” program, denied he was a racist and said he didn’t mean to offend anyone when he suggested blacks where better off as slaves “picking cotton.” But he suggested the country in general — and blacks in particular — have become overly sensitive to racial terms, and he bemoaned a society that doesn’t afford him the “freedom” to fully express himself without fear of backlash.