Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) says President-elect Donald TrumpDonald John TrumpSenate advances public lands bill in late-night vote Warren, Democrats urge Trump to back down from veto threat over changing Confederate-named bases Esper orders ‘After Action Review’ of National Guard’s role in protests MORE must consider severing ties with a campaign surrogate who made racist remarks about first lady Michelle ObamaMichelle LeVaughn Robinson ObamaThe Hill’s Morning Report – Treasury, Fed urge more spending, lending to ease COVID-19 wreckage Budowsky: Michelle Obama or Tammy Duckworth for VP Michelle Obama urges class of 2020 to couple protesting with mobilizing, voting MORE.
Carl Paladino, who served as New York co-chairman for Trump’s presidential campaign and is a member of the Buffalo School Board, also said last Friday he hopes President Obama dies in 2017.
“What he said was disgraceful and irresponsible,” King told Newsday Tuesday. “There’s no way that’s humor.”
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“You can say things that are politically incorrect,” added King, who endorsed Trump’s White House run. “You can say things that you consider dark humor. But, no, that was totally disgraceful really. If they don’t sever him now, they have to say that one more time like that and you’re gone.”
The NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund, meanwhile, called for Paladino’s removal from the Buffalo School Board.
“These statements are unambiguously racist, barbaric, unpatriotic, and wholly inappropriate for a person responsible for the educational direction of any school district, much less a school district as diverse as Buffalo’s,” Janai Nelson, the group’s associate director-counsel, wrote in a letter to the president of the New York State Educational Department.
“Mr. Paladino’s race-based assessment of President and Mrs. Obama’s qualifications cannot be reconciled with his mandate to ensure all of the children of Buffalo receive a quality education,” she added in the message addressed to MaryEllen Elia, the New York State Commissioner of Education.
Paladino last Friday attacked Michelle Obama in racist and sexist terms when asked by a magazine, “What would you like to see go in 2017?”
“Michelle Obama,” he told the New York arts publication Artvoice. “I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortable in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”
“I did not mean to send those answers to Artvoice. … I filled out the survey to send to a couple friends and forwarded it to them not realizing that I didn’t hit ‘forward’ I hit ‘reply.’ All men make mistakes,” Paladino said in the Tuesday statement.
Trump spokeswoman Jessica Ditto last Friday called Paladino’s remarks “absolutely reprehensible,” adding “they serve no place in our public discourse.”
Paladino on Tuesday, meanwhile, insisted he is “certainly not a racist” in an apology statement, adding he has no intention of relinquishing his Buffalo School Board seat.