An interior view of the Kentucky state legislature. Photo: Reuters/Pat McDonogh

Two Kentucky legislators have apologized for using a crudely antisemitic trope during a discussion of a state leasing agreement on Tuesday.

The two Republicans, Walker Thomas and Rick Girdler, used the phrase “Jew them down” — demand a drop in price — during a brief discussion concerning a pair of $1 leases state agencies are receiving for a part of the state that was devastated by tornadoes last December, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

Thomas was reportedly the first to use the phrase during the meeting of the legislature’s Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee. The outlet reported Thomas could be heard on a hot mic asking if the government could “‘Jew them down on the price” and laughing.

Girdler, the committee’s co-chair, reiterated that, saying a representative was asking “if you could ‘Jew them down’ a little bit on the price.”

He quickly added, “That ain’t the right word to use. ‘Drop them down,’ I guess.”

Thomas later spoke of his “sincere regret for using that term and apologize to anyone harmed by my use of it.”

“It is a phrase I have heard throughout my life, but this experience has provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the impact that words have and the fact that we must be smarter today than we were yesterday,” he added.

Girdler said that he too was “deeply sorry,” adding: “I have no hate or malice in my heart for anyone in the Jewish community.”

Melanie Maron Pell of the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) office in Lexington, Kentucky, said in a statement that while “belated apologies are welcome, any elected official willfully using the ‘Jew them down’ phrase is contributing to the spread of a classic antisemitic trope.”

She continued: “Elected officials must be among the first to recognize the harm derogatory terms can cause, especially when antisemitism is on the rise in the United States.”