In the words of Mo’Nique, when you do clownery, the clown comes back to bite. And that’s what an Alabama real estate agent learned when he was fired after posting an advertisement offering to sell people’s houses if they were upset about the election results in Montgomery, where the city elected its first Black mayor.
“Hey Montgomery, Don’t Like The Election Results?? CALL ME!! Let’s SELL That Home While The Market Is HOT!,” the Facebook advertisement with an eXp Realty logo read, according to the Montgomery Advertiser.
The ad featured real estate agent Craig Schaid and was posted after Steve Reed was elected as the first Black mayor of Montgomery, Ala.
eXp told the Advertiser that the company did not know about the ad before it was posted, and fired Schaid after finding out about it.
“We reviewed the situation and terminated the agent. He is no longer an agent with eXp,” Cynthia Novak, the company’s vice president of marketing and communications said in a statement. “In addition, we are discussing how we advocate for diversity and inclusion and will educate all staff and agents on these matters.”
And eXp wasn’t the only group that took issue with Schaid’s advertisement. He was also asked to resign from his position of treasurer with the Montgomery Association of Realtors.
“As of today, we asked for his resignation and we received it today,” association CEO Brad Owen confirmed on Thursday.
Schaid for his part told AL.com that his ad had no racial intent and he did not post it because of Reed.
“I just want it to be known that I never, ever intended to offend or hurt a single person with this ad,” Schaid said.
He said he took the idea from people’s reaction to the 2016 presidential election, when citizens claimed they would leave if Trump won.
He also said he intended to post the ad regardless of who won the mayoral election.
“I didn’t write that with race,” Schaid said. “I didn’t write that with a color. I wrote that thinking it was funny, and somebody pointed out that they were offended. So I removed it. And now, it’s gone crazy.”
“I don’t see a color,” he added. “When that election happened. That’s the thing that probably frustrated me the most afterwards is people were talking about a Black mayor. To me, I didn’t see it as a Black mayor, I saw it as a great mayor. We’ve got a great new mayor. But people keep saying Black mayor. Well that’s fine, he is Black. To me, he’s more than qualified for that position. And I’m excited to see where he’s going to bring Montgomery.”