Ohio state Sen. Stephen Huffman was fired from his job as an emergency room doctor in June for questioning whether the hygiene of “the colored population” was fueling higher rates of COVID-19 in the Black community. “Could it just be that African Americans—or the colored population—do not wash their hands as well as other groups? Or wear masks? Or do not socially distance themselves?” he asked then. But Huffman has made quite a comeback from that offensive comment: His cousin, the Senate president, has tapped him to lead the legislative body’s health committee, the Associated Press reports. After the Ohio Black Legislative Caucus called for Huffman to be replaced, his spokesman said he was being vilified for “a clumsy and awkwardly worded question” and had provided medical care to minority communities as a doctor.