KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — Buffalo developer and School Board Member Carl Paladino, a New York Trump Campaign co-chair, offered a series of racist and incendiary comments about the First Family when asked about the coming new year.
According to The Buffalo News, Paladino was interviewed by an alternative weekly newspaper about his 2017 wish lists. Paladino told Artvoice that he would hope for President Obama’s death, as well as making racist comments about First Lady Michelle Obama.
Asked by Artvoice what he would most like to see in 2017, Paladino offered a hateful vision. “Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford,” referring to a breed of beef cattle. He continued his list of hopes with the president’s death.
When asked what he most wanted to see “go away,” Paladino answered “Michelle Obama.”
“I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla,” he said.
Both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Trump transition team strongly condemned Paladino’s remarks. Cuomo called the comments “racist, ugly and reprehensible,” and pointed out that Paladino “has a long history of racist and incendiary comments.”
“While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage,” Cuomo said.
Paladino ran against Cuomo for governor in 2010.
In a statement to ABC News, the Trump transition team said that the remarks “are absolutely reprehensible, and they serve no place in our public discourse.”
Paladino did visit Trump Tower in New York earlier this month to meet with the president-elect.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
