Get ready to brace yourself for yet another ‘I didn’t mean to be racist while I was totally being racist’ scandal and this time the ignorant meanies were targeting First Lady Michelle Obama.
A Facebook post referring to FLOTUS as an “ape in heels” has sparked calls for a West Virginia businesswoman and a local mayor to stand down from their positions, according to NBC affiliate WSAZ.
“It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House,” posted Pamela Ramsey Taylor, director of the government-funded Clay County Development Corp. said, referring to Michelle Obama’s successor, Milana Trump.
Ms Ramsey Taylor added: “I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”
Disgusting, right? Well one person who was not outraged by the slur was the Mayor of Clay, Beverly Whaling who reportedly commented under the original post: “Just made my day Pam.”
What the…?!
Image via The Petition Site.
The post has since been deleted but not before it was screenshot and circulated thousands of times. Now both women are the subject of an online petition that says they should lose their jobs for the “hateful, racially motivated statement.” That petition has already garnered more than 69,000 signatures as of Tuesday.
In a statement to The Washington Post the mayor said that she apologises for this “getting out of hand”.
“My comment was not intended to be racist at all,” said Ms Whaling.
“I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused! Those who know me know that I’m not of any way racist!”
Soooo… basically that reads as: ‘I am not a racist. I might appreciate racist things and like them and encourage them on social media, but I am not a racist.’
Taylor also reportedly issued a statement on her Facebook page complaining that the backlash has boarded on a “hate crime against me,” and said she’d received death threats.
According to New York Daily News “Every county of West Virginia went for Donald Trump in last week’s election, with more than 77% of Clay County supporting him.”
The incident will reportedly be addressed in a town meeting on Tuesday night.
We could say a lot about this right now but, instead let’s just remember the wise words that FLOTUS herself once said:
“When they go low, we go high!”
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