Unrecon-structed Jewish comedian Jackie Mason is in trouble for calling President Obama a “shvartze” during a performance in New York,

Mason used the term, which means “black” in Yiddish but is considered derogatory, during a performance at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency in New York City on March 12.

One audience member was quoted as saying, “He’s more offensive to the Jews than Madoff tonight.”

“I’m an old Jew. I was raised in a Jewish family where ‘schvartze’ was used,” said Mason. “It’s not a demeaning word.”

Mason has some form with this term. In 1991 he was forced to apologise after calling the New York mayoral candidate David Dinkins “a fancy schvartze with a moustache.”