Mayor Patrick Rushing of Airway Heights in Washington has said that he is not a racist after referring to President Obama as a “monkey man” and Michelle Obama as “gorilla face.”
The local city council has asked him to resign, but Rushing refuses. The council can’t force him to resign because he was elected. He reportedly told the press, “I made a mistake. I owned up to my mistake. If I do resign that’s admitting I’m a racist and I’m not.”
The full comment from Rushing’s Facebook post was reported by KHQ-TV as saying: “Gorilla face Michelle, can’t disagree with that. The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL.”
The mayor says the comment wasn’t racially based.