Yahoo – AFP,
November 16, 2016
Washington (AFP) - A mayor from West Virginia has resigned amid a furor over a racist Facebook post that described First Lady Michelle Obama as an "ape in heels," US media said.
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| Michelle Obama emerged as a hugely popular surrogate for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail (AFP Photo/ Jewel Samad) |
Washington (AFP) - A mayor from West Virginia has resigned amid a furor over a racist Facebook post that described First Lady Michelle Obama as an "ape in heels," US media said.
Beverly
Whaling, the mayor of the tiny town of Clay, had appeared to applaud the
incendiary comment and stepped down Tuesday amid the ensuing firestorm.
Local
television news channel WSAZ confirmed that Whaling had resigned.
According
to WSAZ, Clay County Development Corp. director Pamela Ramsey Taylor had posted
after Donald Trump's election: "It will be refreshing to have a classy,
beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a Ape
in heels."
Whaling
responded: "Just made my day Pam."
The
comments were later deleted and both women's Facebook pages were eventually
taken offline, The Washington Post reported citing local media.
Staffers at
the Clay County Development Corp. told WSAZ that Taylor had been removed from
her position.
Barack
Obama's eight years in office have been marred by racial slurs against the
nation's first African American president and his family.
Clay has a
population of less than 500, according to the 2010 census, and is the seat of
Clay County in West Virginia.
The furor
over the racist comment, and the mayor's seemingly agreeable response, prompted
an online petition drive to have the two women ousted.
The text on
www.thepetitionsite.com gathered nearly 160,000 signatures from across the
country.
Whaling had
apologized in a statement Monday to The Washington Post, writing: "My
comment was not intended to be racist at all."
Michelle
Obama emerged as a hugely popular surrogate for Democratic presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.
Trump, a
billionaire businessman, won West Virginia's five electoral votes, helping him
to his unexpected triumph over Clinton.
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