Bernie Ecclestone delivered his second car crash interview of the day as he appeared on Piers Morgan's talk show.
The former F1 boss, 91, joined the Uncensored star on his TalkTV show on Thursday, where he discussed the 'outrageous' comments he had made earlier in the day on ITV's Good Morning Britain.
Bernie had shocked viewers with his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as his comparison of Nelson Piquet’s alleged racial slur against Lewis Hamilton as calling someone 'short or fat'.
During today's chat with Piers, Bernie said he "stood behind" the comments he made about taking a bullet for Putin and defended himself against the remarks he made about Nelson Piquet's alleged racial slur towards Lewis Hamilton.
"I forgot what I said, but whatever I said I meant, good or bad," he told Piers.
Asked what he thought about the F1 driver Piquet's comments that people like him shouldn't have a platform, he said: "Complete load of rubbish. Because if he's referring to me, he should think a little bit. His father and myself had talked about going into business for a while. I'm not racist, quite the opposite to be honest. His comments are crazy."
"I don't know what the N word was," Bernie then added, claiming he wasn't sure as it was said in Brazilian. Piers then asked how he could defend Piquet for his comments.
Bernie then went to insist he has done a lot to support all races. "I've never met a coloured person that I've found I don't like," he then added as Piers admitted he felt the comments would be looked bad upon by people.
As Piers suggested there was no equivalent between being called undersized and the N word, he said: "It's terribly rude to call someone fat or say someone's short. It's the same sort of feeling. It depends if you're fat."
Bernie also refused to say how recently he spoke to the Russian president but insisted he hadn't spoken to him since the war began, telling Piers: "I'm not going to answer that," as he continued to back Putin despite the horrifying war in Ukraine.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's a good guy. He hasn't done anything that I feel he isn't a good guy to talk to," he added as he discussed his opinion on the Russian president.
"If he planned to do this, it's disgusting - and I'm very disappointed with him," Bernie said when he was asked about the current war in Ukraine, "I don't know what he had in mind. And I'd be surprised if he did. I assume he thought he'd march in and except a surrender and a white flag."
He also claimed Zelenskyy was on a publicity mission as he questioned why the Ukrainian president didn't speak to Putin first "before the troops went in". Piers then said it was right for Zelenskyy to stand up against Putin, but Bernie seemingly disagreed, saying "that's what you think, if that's how you see it".
Earlier in the day, Bernie shocked Good Morning Britain viewers as he praised Vladimir Putin and said he would take a bullet for him.
Kate Garraway asked the former F1 boss if he would still consider Russian President Vladimir Putin to be a friend, to which he simply replied: "I'd still take a bullet for him. I'd rather he didn't hurt, but I'd still take a bullet for him."
And when asked why, he added: "Because he's a first class person and what he's doing is something that he believed was the right thing he was doing for Russia.
"Unfortunately, he's like a lot of business person - certainly like me - that we make mistakes from time-to-time. And when you've made a mistake, you have to do the best you can to get out of it and I think if it had been conducted properly."
He then went on to speak about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"I mean, the other person in Ukraine, I mean his profession I understand, he used to be a comedian and it seems he wants to continue that profession because I think if he had thought about things and made a big enough effort to speak to Mr Putin, who is a sensible person and would have listened to him and could have probably done something about it," he added.
Elsewhere in the chat, Bernie was asked about Nelson Piquet’s alleged racial slur against Lewis Hamilton.
"I’ve known him for a very long time. It’s not the sort of thing Nelson would say meaning something bad. To him it’s nothing. Just part of conversation. He would never go out of his way to say anything bad," he said, as he admitted he wasn't sure why Lewis hadn't decided to "brush the comment aside".
"As his daughter is the girlfriend of Max Verstappen, probably after seeing the accident he probably exploded and carried that forward. I exploded, didn’t say anything obviously. He was upset with the accident thinking it was wrong and thinking it was Lewis' fault. I thought it was," Bernie also added.
