Jen Psaki Asked if Putin ‘Rape Joke’ Could Hurt Talks, Has White House Told Kremlin ‘Yo, That’s Not Cool?’

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Vladimir Putin’s “rape joke” about Ukraine could hurt diplomacy over the Ukraine situation, and whether the White House has reached out to the Kremlin about the jab.

Putin has been accused of making a rape joke with regard to Ukraine during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Moscow Tuesday.

“‘Like it or not, my beauty, you have to put up with it,’ Putin said, using an expression that rhymes in Russian,” reported the Daily Mail. The English captions on the video roughly say the same:

At a White House press briefing this week, a reporter asked Psaki about the remark and its potential effect on the volatile situation. Psaki denounced the joke, but did not offer details of any communication with the Kremlin:

Q Then I want to talk about something that Russian President Putin said —

MS. PSAKI: Sure.

Q — the other day. He made what many Russian speakers interpreted as a rape joke directed at Ukraine. Given that diplomacy is all about talking, how does the administration view talk like this? Does it shorten the diplomatic off-ramp because it’s a pretty undiplomatic thing to say? And has the White House communicated to the Kremlin, you know, “Yo, that’s not cool”?

MS. PSAKI: Well, first, I would say that any joke about rape would certainly be something that everyone in this government would be outraged by, whether it’s happening from the mouth of a U.S. official or a foreign official.

I’d also note that we have never held back in our concern about the lack of truthfulness of some of the statements that come out of the mouth of President Putin and members of the Russian leadership, and also the bellicose rhetoric that has come out of their mouths. So, we have never held back on our concern. And certainly, that joke would not be something that we —

Q Have you reached out to the Kremlin?

MS. PSAKI: I don’t have anything more in terms of diplomatic discussions.

Watch above via NBC News.