Duterte called Obama a 'son of a whore' and the internet did a collective facepalm

Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has backed down quickly after his initial slur against U.S. president Barack Obama resulted in Washington cancelling a meeting scheduled between the two.

On Monday, Duterte warned Obama not to question him on extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, or "putang ina I will swear at you," he said, using the Tagalog phrase for "your mother is a whore".

Duterte was responding to a reporter on how he intends to explain the over 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users who have been killed since he launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30.

Obama shrugged off any offence taken, saying Duterte was a "colourful guy", but cancelled the face-to-face in Laos all the same, noting that he wants meetings to be "productive and (that) we're getting something done."

Duterte's remarks quickly grabbed headlines internationally, as the Philippines reacted with a collective facepalm on social media.

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Some Filipinos have pointed out how Duterte's staff must be scrambling to do damage control.

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The morning after the spat, Duterte appeared to back down in a follow-up statement. He said he did not mean to start a fight with Obama.

He added, however, that U.S. officials should have sent him a diplomatic note for his response, instead of publicly questioning his country's law enforcement methods.

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Duterte's supporters are defending him, and some are saying "son of a whore" was a turn of phrase, and not an insult directed at Obama.

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"Bilib na bilib sa America" translates roughly to "sucking up to America."

Additional information from The Associated Press.