Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean is backtracking on a comment he made during a town hall meeting in Fort McMurray Tuesday night, one his colleagues in the legislature have swiftly condemned.

During the question and answer portion of a town hall meeting, Jean responded to a seniors’ advocate’s complaint about senior care and housing in Fort McMurray.

His response, reported by newspaper Fort McMurray Today, is as follows:

“I’ve been beating this drum for 10, 11 years. I’ll continue to beat it, I promise. But it’s against the law to beat Rachel Notley.”

The newspaper reported that some in the crowd laughed, while others gasped.

Soon after that, Jean apologized for the joke, and complimented Premier Rachel Notley on her work for seniors.

After that apology during the meeting, Jean’s office also sent out a public apology:

“Last night during my town hall I made an inappropriate attempt at humour that I promptly apologized for.

“Jokes of this nature are never acceptable, and I hold myself to a higher standard.

“I have reached out to Premier Notley to sincerely apologize directly to her.”

On Wednesday, Minister for the Status of Women Stephanie McLean responded to the comments.

“They are unacceptable comments, they’re out of touch, they don’t reflect where Albertans are at,” McLean said.

Conservative MLA Sandra Janson issued a statement, saying she was “deeply disappointed” Jean joked about violence “against any woman, let alone our Premier.

“Violence against women is no joke – in fact, more than 10,000 abused women and their children were accommodated by Alberta shelters in 2015-16. On top of that, an additional 8,076 women and 8,283 children were turned away due to lack of capacity.

“Violence against women, and particularly domestic violence, remains a major issue in our province and it’s important that as leaders, we work together to support the victims and to champion initiatives that will put an end to these heinous crimes.”

The Alberta Federation of Labour called the comment “completely inexcusable”, and the Council of Women’s Shelters highlighted the entire incident as an example of “how ingrained violence against women is in our culture.”

“It is part of the gender and political landscape that female public figures operate within,” Siobhan Byrne with the University of Alberta said.

It is also an issue not limited to Alberta. U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been accused of inciting gun rights supporters to stop opponent Hillary Clinton with violence recently.

Mount Royal University professor Lori Williams said what Jean said speaks to his integrity.

“The fact that he’s said this raises questions about who he really is, what he stands for, and whether he is somebody Albertans want as premier,” Williams said.

A Canadian Olympic medalist also weighed in on the controversy.

“The only thing keeping you from beating somebody is the law, it’s shocking, and I demand more from our political leaders,” Rugby player Jen Kish said.

With files from Michel Boyer and Nicole Weisberg