COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A Republican activist in South Carolina is under fire for comments he made on Facebook about First Lady Michelle Obama.
The story first hit the blog FitsNews.com Saturday night with a headline reading "SCGOP Activist Posts Remark Disparaging First Lady."
Rusty Depass is a former state Senate candidate and a former State Election Commission chairman.
The article showed an entry Depass posted on Facebook commenting on a gorilla that escaped from Riverbanks Zoo.
It said, "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors -- probably harmless."
Depass said he was talking about the first lady.
Bob Coble, mayor of Columbia and one of Depass' political rivals, condemned the comment.
"You know, I think the comment is inappropriate," Coble said. "It's a racist comment. I think Mr. Depass should apologize."
Depass spoke with WYFF News 4 over the phone Saturday night.
"I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone," he said. "The comment was clearly in jest."
"I don't think there's anything funny about that comment," Coble said. "That is the first lady of the United States. We've had a long tradition of wonderful first ladies, and I don't think any of them deserve that type of comment."
Depass took his apology a bit further.
"The comment was hers, not mine," he said.
He said the first lady made statements in the media recently, saying humans are all descendants of apes. A Google search WYFF made on the topic turned up no news articles of the like.
"I don't know of any," Coble said.
The mayor said he wants a clear-cut apology.
"Rusty Depass is well-known in the community, and I know he's done very good things in addition to his political work," Coble said. "I don't want a comment like that coming out of Columbia, S.C., for the world to comment on."
So far, the White House has not commented on Depass' posting.
The story first hit the blog FitsNews.com Saturday night with a headline reading "SCGOP Activist Posts Remark Disparaging First Lady."
Rusty Depass is a former state Senate candidate and a former State Election Commission chairman.
The article showed an entry Depass posted on Facebook commenting on a gorilla that escaped from Riverbanks Zoo.
It said, "I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors -- probably harmless."
Depass said he was talking about the first lady.
Bob Coble, mayor of Columbia and one of Depass' political rivals, condemned the comment.
"You know, I think the comment is inappropriate," Coble said. "It's a racist comment. I think Mr. Depass should apologize."
Depass spoke with WYFF News 4 over the phone Saturday night.
"I am as sorry as I can be if I offended anyone," he said. "The comment was clearly in jest."
"I don't think there's anything funny about that comment," Coble said. "That is the first lady of the United States. We've had a long tradition of wonderful first ladies, and I don't think any of them deserve that type of comment."
Depass took his apology a bit further.
"The comment was hers, not mine," he said.
He said the first lady made statements in the media recently, saying humans are all descendants of apes. A Google search WYFF made on the topic turned up no news articles of the like.
"I don't know of any," Coble said.
The mayor said he wants a clear-cut apology.
"Rusty Depass is well-known in the community, and I know he's done very good things in addition to his political work," Coble said. "I don't want a comment like that coming out of Columbia, S.C., for the world to comment on."
So far, the White House has not commented on Depass' posting.
4 comments:
Michelle Obama can't hold a candle to an ape, for she is far uglier. Look at her facial muscles, for she hate and snubs the common folks.
filthy jew pig hitler was a great prophet
In reality, they are frustrated, angry, unhappy people and the only way they can feel good about themselves is putting others, in this case, Michelle Obama, down.
it happened to Bush now it's happening to the Obamas. Lets see what they do, hopefully not ask google to go in censorship mode like a haitian dictatorship. glad the image is there to show Michelle's salient ressemblance to monkeys to those who have not noticed. The woman is impopular anyway so who cares. 3 more years of shame.
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