UPDATE (11/15/16): West Virginia Mayor Beverly Whaling has resigned. WSAZ News reportedly received confirmation that Whaling has submitted an official resignation letter, following the fallout from her comments on a racially offensive Facebook post, in which Clay County Corporation Director Pamela Ramsey referred to First Lady Michelle Obama as “an ape in heels.”
Previous Report:
As racial tensions continue to rise across the country in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory, a disturbing incident out of West Virginia has thousands demanding action.
Clay County Development Corporation Executive Pamela Ramsey Taylor hurled words of blatant disrespect and disregard for First Lady Michelle Obama in a racist Facebook post, where she referred to FLOTUS as “an ape in heels.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling agreed with Taylor’s racially offensive statement, commenting on the original post, “Just made my day, Pam.”
Wrong in so many ways. Terminate #BeverlyWhaling as #ClayCounty #WV #Mayor & #PamelaTaylor From #DevelopmentCorp
— Living This Life (@FootInMyShoe) November 14, 2016
https://t.co/LZFwX6y41w pic.twitter.com/uZVQLYpm5g
The disgraceful Facebook post has since been deleted, but screenshots of the message before it was removed quickly began circulating on social media. In response, a petition calling for both women to be fired for their outwardly racist comments has garnered over 24,000 signatures.
A rep for the Clay County Development Corporation confirmed that Taylor is no longer an employee at the company, while Mayor Whaling’s professional fate is reportedly still in limbo. As has become customary in incidents where White people get called out after showing their true colors on social media, Whaling has since “apologized” for the comment, claiming she’s not a racist.
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“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 Washington Post.
Girl, save it.