John McCain has canceled an upcoming fundraiser with a Texas oilman after his campaign faced questions on comments the host made about rape nearly 20 years ago.

Clayton Williams, a Texas Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1990, was planning to host McCain at his home Monday, The Washington Post reported.

But Williams stirred controversy during his own campaign when he tried to make a joke comparing bad weather to rape. He was quoted at the time as saying, "If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it."

The McCain campaign, in canceling the fundraiser, claimed it was initially unaware of Williams' past comments.

"These were obviously incredibly offensive remarks that the campaign was unaware of at the time it was scheduled," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said. "It's positive that he did apologize at the time, but the comments are nonetheless offensive."

That didn't keep Democrats from criticizing McCain, since the campaign said it would not return money Williams had raised for McCain because the contributions came from other individuals and not from Williams. Williams told his hometown newspaper, the Midland Reporter-Telegram, that he had raised more than $300,000 for McCain.

"Senator McCain's claim of ignorance is no excuse for refusing to do the right thing now. Offensive, disgusting comments like these cannot be tolerated," Democratic National Committee spokeswoman KarenFinney said.

FOX News' Mosheh Oinounou and The Associated Press contributed to this report.