Liberal host-turned-congressional hopeful Cenk Uygur slammed the New York Times over a report that suggested that he had defended former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke during an interview, calling the claim a "lie."

The Times ran a report on Friday about how Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had retracted his endorsement for Uygur after the presidential candidate faced backlash for expressing his support for the congressional candidate, who has had a history of controversial remarks, many of which were included in the report.

However, the report also mentioned an interview Uygur had done on his progressive digital outlet The Young Turks with Duke and pointed to a clip that had gone viral on Twitter, reporting that "Mr. Duke ends an interview by saying, 'I am not, what you call a racist,' to which Mr. Uygur replies, 'No, of course not,'" which appeared to have been said sarcastically.

The report included Uygur's response to the clip, calling it a "complete smear" that was taken out of context from a "combative one-hour interview."

Fellow progressive host and Young Turks colleague Kyle Kulinski came in defense of Uygur, sharing a clip showing his fiery debate with Duke arguing directly to the former grand wizard that he was "anti-Semitic." Kulinski called for an immediate retraction and apology from the paper.

Uygur singled out Times reporter Jennifer Medina on Sunday night over her report.

"When @jennymedina contacted me for her story I thought we had a shared understanding the Duke clip was obviously out of context," Uygur wrote. "She was immediately sent the full, combative debate as proof. That she completely ignored it & still published this lie is absolutely unconscionable."

An error occurred while retrieving the Tweet. It might have been deleted.

Neither Medina nor The Times immediately responded to Fox News' requests for comment.

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Uygur has been running for California's 25th district seat left vacant by Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat who resigned after she faced multiple sex scandals, one of which prompted a House Ethics investigation.

Also vying for Hill's congressional seat: former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. The special election is scheduled for this coming March.