the mayor of clay, w.va., resigned<u+00a0>tuesday<u+00a0>after getting caught up in a firestorm over a derogatory facebook post by an official at a county agency that compared first lady michelle obama to an <u+201c>ape in heels<u+201d> following donald trump <u+2019>s victory. beverly whaling submitted her resignation as mayor of clay, a rural town with a population of about 490, after apologizing for a facebook reply that she said was misinterpreted as racist. the original post by pamela ramsey taylor, director of the clay county development corp., has also come under widespread criticism. it said, <u+201c>it will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady in the white house. i<u+2019>m tired of seeing a ape in heels.<u+201d> ms. whaling replied, <u+201c>just made my day pam.<u+201d> the comments were shared widely across facebook and twitter, and the episode was reported in the west virginia media before it began to appear in national media outlets. ms. whaling couldn<u+2019>t be reached to comment. before resigning<u+00a0>tuesday, ms. whaling issued a statement in which she apologized but said her reply had been misinterpreted. <u+201c>i would like to apologize for any unintentional harm caused by my comment,<u+201d> ms. whaling wrote. <u+201c>my comment was not intended to be racist at all.<u+201d> <u+201c>i was referring to my day being made for the change in the white house,<u+201d> ms. whaling continued. <u+201c>i am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused. those who know me know that i<u+2019>m not in any way racist.<u+201d> ms. taylor was removed from her position, according to the charleston gazette-mail. she couldn<u+2019>t be reached to comment<u+00a0>tuesday. a person who answered her phone and identified herself as ms. taylor<u+2019>s granddaughter, said, <u+201c>it<u+2019>s all been blown out of proportion. she wasn<u+2019>t being racist.<u+201d> the woman, who declined to provide her name, said ms. taylor had been let go from the nonprofit agency. she said, <u+201c>the minute she made the post she realized that it be might offend someone, and she apologized.<u+201d> a representative at the county agency couldn<u+2019>t be reached to comment. in clay county, a rural county east of charleston with about 9,000 residents, mr. trump carried about 77% of the vote in the presidential election, beating former secretary of state hillary clinton, 2,289 to 566. write to kris maher at kris.maher@wsj.com
mayor of west virginia town resigns amid controversy over facebook post    - wsj
kris maher