West Virginia Mayor Resigns After “Ape In Heels” Facebook Post About Michelle Obama Went Viral
Following Donald Trump's controversial win is a resignation last Tuesday of Mayor Beverly Whaling after she seemed to applaud a Facebook post pertaining to Michelle Obama as an "ape in heels". While others were out protesting, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, a county official, took to Facebook her excitement on seeing new faces in the White House.
"It will be so refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady back in the White House. I'm tired of seeing an Ape in heels," quoting from the screengrab reported by CNN.
Whaling, mayor of Clay, West Virginia commented on Taylor's post saying: "Just made my day Pam". She later issued a written apology saying that her comment was only about the election outcome and not intended to be racist.
After the post made noise, people called for a petition for Whaling to resign, and it gathered more than 170,000 signatures. Greg Fitzwater, Commissioner of Clay County confirmed to CNN that she resigned, while speculations rose if Taylor, director of the non-profit development corporation, resigned or was terminated as she is no longer seen working for the county.
New York Daily News reported that after Whaling resigned, the Town Council met to accept it. The same source also confirmed that the resignation came after Taylor was a placed on leave from her post.
Councilman Jason Hubbard read a statement during the brief council meeting deprecating the post he described as "horrible and indecent". He expressed apologies on behalf of the town to First Lady Michelle Obama and those who were offended.
Hubbard also said not to put them down for what happen, saying "Please don't judge the entire community for one or two individual acts."
BBC reported that the town of Clay formerly headed by Whaling has a population of only 491. According to 2010 census, there are no African American residents in the said town. Clay County all-in-all has 9,000 residents, more than 98 percent of them are white.
The council is already working on how to quickly get a replacement for the three years left of Whaling's term.
