Questioned by Media Matters, Roger Stone acknowledged that he deleted a series of sexist and racist tweets he had sent about media figures, but “vehemently” denied that they were actually sexist and racist. The Trump ally also criticized the media outlets that banned him over his crude commentary, and said he has “no idea” why Fox News host Megyn Kelly -- who has a “nice set of cans,” according to an old Stone tweet -- has not hosted him on her program recently.

Media Matters reporter Joe Strupp interviewed Stone before he spoke Monday at New York City’s Federal Hall National Memorial for City & State’s Great Debate. Stone heads the pro-Trump super PAC Committee to Restore America's Greatness and has been under fire for his plan to disclose the hotel room numbers of Republican convention delegates who are purportedly trying to steal the nomination from Trump.

Stone has also been criticized by conservatives and liberals for his outrageous tweets targeting media figures. He wrote (among many other things) that commentator Roland Martin is a “stupid negro” and a “fat negro,” New York Times columnist Gail Collins is an “elitist c*nt,” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow is “Rachel the muff-diver,” CNN's Ana Navarro is “Borderline retarded” and an “Entitled Diva Bitch,” and Fox's Allen West is an “arrogant know-it-all negro.” He mocked writer Charles Krauthammer for being paralyzed, and tweeted “DIE BITCH” at former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson.

CNN and MSNBC have both banned Stone from their airwaves. Stone has pointed the finger at the “book burners at Media Matters” for the bans.

Stone has since deleted many of those tweets. Asked by Media Matters at the Great Debate event about removing the tweets, Stone said, “Some of them were perhaps intemperate, but I, of course, vehemently deny that they were either racist or sexist.”

While Stone has not been banned from Fox, he hasn’t appeared on Kelly’s program in two months. Stone was formerly a regular guest on The Kelly File, having appeared on the show four times in January and February (February 19, February 10, February 1, and January 21), according to a Nexis transcript search. The appearances stopped after news surfaced about Stone’s crude Twitter attacks, which were first noted by Media Matters on February 22 and 23.

On the February 28 edition of Fox News’ Media Buzz, host Howard Kurtz noted that “Stone, who has also appeared on Fox News in recent months, has made disparaging physical comments about Megyn Kelly and Charles Krauthammer in the past.” He added that “Stone should be asked about these tweets the next time he shows up on Fox.”

Stone acknowledged to Media Matters he hasn’t appeared on The Kelly File in a while, but said he had “no idea” if Kelly had been barring him from appearing on the show. Stone has recently tweeted at Kelly asking to appear on her program. He has continued to appear on other Fox News and Fox Business programming.  

Back in 2011, Stone tweeted (and recently deleted) that Kelly has a “nice set of cans.” In response to a 2013 question from FishbowlDC about whom he would pick to have dinner with -- “NBC’s Brian Williams, CNN’s Roland Martin, ABC’s Sherri Shepherd or Fox News’ Megyn Kelly” -- Stone picked Kelly because she’s “hot." Last month he tweeted his desire to take her out for a drink.

Stone told Media Matters that any media organization that bans him “exposes that they're not a media organization.” But the Trump backer said he wasn’t upset about his cable news bans, concluding that “there are dozens of other media outlets.”

Stone is still a fixture on fringe conservative radio, including appearing as a regular guest on Alex Jones’ conspiracy show.