Clay, West Virginia Mayor Beverly Whaling has resigned in the wake of a racist Facebook post directed against First Lady Michelle Obama.
The post in question was by Pamela Ramsey Taylor, director of the Clay County Development Corp., who expressed her satisfaction with Donald Trump's victory by writing that, "It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing an ape in heels."
Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling agreed, responding, "Just made my day Pam."
The pair quickly came under fire for their comments. One petition to have them removed from office collected 166,00 signatures as of press time. Taylor has reportedly also been removed from her position, according to WSAZ.
Racist @facebook comments made by @GreaterClaywv's mayor #BeverlyWhaling and county official #PamelaRamseyTaylor. pic.twitter.com/MdHvv17Xu7
— Erika G. Rockwell (@EGRockwell) November 13, 2016
Whaling initially told WSAZ reporter Jatara McGee that the response to her post, including apparent death threats, “has been a hate crime against me.”
She recanted the statement, and her initial post, in a statement provided to the Washington Post on Monday.
“My comment was not intended to be racist at all. 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!" she told the newspaper. “Again, I would like to apologise for this getting out of hand!”
Clay County broke heavily for the Republican candidate, with apparently more than three-quarters of the votes cast going Trump's way.
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