Michelle Obama ‘Ape In Heels’ Comment: Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling Resigns [Updated]

Update 9:45 p.m. ET: The Toronto Star is reporting that Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling resigned at a meeting of the Clay town council this afternoon.

“This community is a helpful, hopeful, empathetic and God-loving community,” Clay councilor Jason Hubbard was quoted. “Please don’t judge the entire community for one or two individual acts.”

Original article: Pamela Ramsey Taylor, a former director with the non-profit Clay County Development Corporation, has stated that the response to a comment she posted on Facebook about First Lady Michelle Obama’s being an ape constitutes a “hate crime,” as reported by the Washington Post.

“It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape [sic] in heels,” Taylor was reported to have written in a now-deleted Facebook post.

“Just made my day Pam,” Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling reportedly replied to the now infamous Michelle Obama “ape in heels” comment, as reported by CBS.

Both Whaling and Taylor have apologized for their comments, though Taylor is reported to be planning a lawsuit against those who “slandered or libeled her.”

“My comment was not intended to be racist at all,” Whaling was quoted by the Post. “I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! Those who know me know that I’m not of any way racist!”

The Clay mayor went on to offer apologies for the situation “getting out of hand.” Whaling is reported to currently remain the mayor of the tiny West Virginia town.

According to Jason Hubbard, a councilor with the town, Beverly Whaling’s tenure as mayor will be a topic of discussion at a Clay town meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening. A petition calling for her removal has been started with ThePetitionSite, and has attracted close to 80,000 signatures.

Clay County Development Corporation has been said to have removed Pamela Ramsay Taylor from her position. The corporation is reported to be funded with both federal and state tax dollars. She has been replaced by Leslie McGlothlin.

According to the Post, three-quarters of the local population voted for Donald Trump in last week’s presidential election and less than one percent are African-American.

Fifty-two-year-old Michelle Obama is the first African-American First Lady in the history of the United States. During her tenure in the White House she has spearheaded and taken part in numerous social and humanitarian causes.

While it was not the first time Michelle Obama had taken center stage in front of the American public, her campaign appearances on behalf of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton electrified crowds of supporters around the nation.

“With every action we take, with every word we utter, we think about the millions of children who are watching us,” Michelle Obama was quoted in North Carolina, in October, by CNN.

Appearing on Saturday Night Live this past weekend, in a clip that contains coarse language, comedian Dave Chappelle stated that most Americans will miss Michelle Obama’s husband, President Barack Obama, once he steps down in January.

Chappelle described attending a party at the White House hosted by the President, the First Lady, and BET recently and “everyone there was black.”

“It was a really, really beautiful night,” the African-American comedian said of the event.

Dave Chappelle remembered the party moving to the West Wing of the White House and looking around at the paintings of the former U.S. presidents.

Chappelle recounted that the very first African-American to be invited to the White House was Frederick Douglas, by Abraham Lincoln, who was stopped by security. The president was reported to have had to come rushing outside himself and instruct his staff to let the man enter. Chappelle then told the story of a racist slur used by Franklin Roosevelt after he had received “flack” from the American public for inviting an African-American to the White House, more than 60 years later.

The comedian recalled “how happy” the people gathered in the West Wing with Michelle and Barack Obama were. Chappelle stated that the scene made him feel “hopeful” and “proud to be an American.”

Dave Chappelle went on to wish President-elect Donald Trump luck with his position and expressed his intention to “give him a chance” while stating that “the historically disenfranchised demand that he give us one too.”

[Featured Image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]