Of course it was in jest. And I am SICK of Republicans playing along with the Demon Rat party and media (redundant) to act like these types of remarks are damnable.
Hanging at Rev. Wright’s America hating church for 20 years, yeah, that might be a problem. Enjoying company for decades with woman abusers and enablers might be an issue. Creating a permanent underclass via the welfare state or supporting central control of the economic levers is troublesome.
Making a joke is not.
These moments would be a good opportunity to take on political correctness. Instead, people who make offhand remarks or jokes bend over backward to apologize. I remember an incident years ago, I think it was in Colorado. There was some kind of townhall meeting going on, and the lights kept going out. The mayor said something like "you guys had better get this fixed; the natives are getting restless!". The phrase "the natives are getting restless" used to be a common expression. The mayor was then vilified for somehow having made a racial slur, and he later apologized profusely.
IMO, he should not have apologized, but should have doubled down. He should have said something like "the only people who thought my remark was racist are politically correct morons! It was a common figure of speech before the speech police started finding racism in everything! Get over it!"