Gary Wiepert/Reuters
New York real-estate developer and prominent Trump supporter Carl Paladino apologized on Tuesday for his remarks that President Obama should die of mad cow disease and that Michelle Obama should be “let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe.” Paladino has sat on the Buffalo Public Schools board since 2013, and following his racist comments petitions and protests emerged calling for his ouster. His own son publicly condemned the remarks, calling them “disrespectful and absolutely unnecessary.” Paladino, a former New York co-chair of Trump’s campaign, said in a statement on Tuesday that “I never intended to hurt the minority community… to them I apologize.” He added that he does not intend to step down from the school board, and that his responses were mistakenly made public due to an email mix-up. “I am certainly not a racist. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,” his statement concluded. During the 2016 election season, Paladino came into controversy multiple times—most notably when he suggested Gold Star parent and Democratic National Convention speaker Khizr Khan might be an “ISIS type.”