Facebook/BeverlyWhaling
A mayor of a small West Virginia town has resigned amid scandal after seemingly supporting a racist comment made against Michelle Obama. Beverly Whaling, the mayor of the town of Clay, resigned Tuesday after inciting a furor with a racist Facebook post. In the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise win, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, the director of the Clay County Development Corp., took to Facebook to express her delight with getting rid of the “ape in heels” in the White House, an apparent reference to first lady Michelle Obama. Whaling responded with: “Just made my day Pam.” Although the women’s comments have since been deleted, the racist sentiment was enough to trigger calls for them both to step down. An online petition gathered 160,000 signatures to have the women removed from their positions. Local media reported Tuesday that Taylor had been ousted from her position, and Whaling released a statement before resigning, saying her comment “was not intended to be racist at all.”