Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers submitted his resignation letter to the city clerk on Saturday. The motion hasn’t been approved by the city council yet, however an emergency meeting will be held regarding the matter Wednesday, reports say
A controversial Alabama mayor has resigned after posting disparaging comments about the University of Alabama football team voicing its support for the Black Lives Matter movement – months after he refused to step down after calling for the killing of LGBTQ people.
Carbon Hill Mayor Mark Chambers submitted his resignation letter to the city clerk on Saturday. The motion hasn’t been approved by the city council yet, however an emergency meeting will be held regarding the matter Wednesday, reports say.
Chambers’ resignation followed a series of comments he made on his private Facebook page hours earlier, screenshots of which circulated widely on social media across the weekend.
The contentious figure’s initial post said he was selling his photos of the Alabama football team and head coach Nick Saban because of their ‘sorry’ political views. He said ‘the Tide is done in my opinion’.
The post appears to be a response to a two minute video shared on the official social media pages of Alabama Football last week, in which a diverse group of players and Saban read an essay by Crimson Tide offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood that said ‘All lives can’t matter until black lives matter’.
One person commented on Chambers’ post, saying: ‘I think you may be right they haven’t looked as good the last couple of years.’
Chambers then responded: ‘I’m not getting rid of them because of how they have performed. Their sorry ass political views is why their [sic] getting out of my house.’
In another comment, Chambers wrote: ‘When you put black lives before all lives they can kiss my a**.’
The post was reportedly removed by Chambers by Sunday. The Daily Mountain Eagle reported that Chambers has two different Facebook accounts, listed with his name and likeness.
On that second account, in a post in his name Saturday, Chambers shared a graphic saying ‘ALL LIVES MATTER’ and ‘JESUS DIED FOR US ALL’.
The small-town mayor previously faced scrutiny last year for complaining on social media about ‘baby killers’ and ‘socialists’, saying: ‘We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals’ and ‘transvestites lecture us on human biology’.
His remarks got even more extreme in the comments section when he responded to a friend who wrote: ‘By giving the minority more rights than the majority. I hate to think of the country my grandkids will live in unless somehow we change and I think that will take a revolution.’
Chambers agreed, writing: ‘The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it’s bad to say but without killing them out there’s no way to fix it.’
The post appears to be a response to a two minute video shared on the official social media pages of Alabama Football last week, in which a diverse group of players and Saban read an essay by Crimson Tide offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood that said: ‘All lives can’t matter until black lives matter’
The contentious figure’s initial post said he was selling his photos of the Alabama football team and head coach Nick Saban (above) because of their ‘sorry’ political views
The small-town mayor (pictured with his wife Ronda) previously faced scrutiny last year for complaining on social media about ‘baby killers’ and ‘socialists’, saying ‘We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals’ and ‘transvestites lecture us on human biology.’
Two town council members, McClain Burrough and Chandler Gann later resigned, reportedly because they didn’t want to be associated with his comments.
Chambers initially denied authoring the comment when confronted by a local TV station, saying, ‘I don’t think I posted that. I think that’s somebody else’s post’.
‘So, you’re saying someone is using your identity on Facebook?’ the reporter asked, to which he replied: ‘I don’t know.’
WRBC said Chambers called back minutes later and admitted to writing the comment himself.
He claimed that it was taken out of context and that he meant to send it as a private message.
Chambers went on to talk about immigrants, calling them ‘ungrateful’ and saying that they were ‘taking over the country’, according to WRBC.
He said his Facebook posts were in response to a ‘civil war’ happening in America.
‘I never said anything about killing out gays or anything like that,’ Chambers said defensively.
After having his own words read back to him, he said: ‘That’s in a revolution. That’s right! If it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out.’
He also griped about privacy and said his Facebook page wasn’t meant for the public. After the phone call his settings were changed from public to private.
Chambers posted the meme above on his public Facebook profile on May 31. He told a local news station that he shared it in response to a ‘civil war’ taking place in America
Council members McClain Burrough (left) and Chandler Gann (right) resigned with no explanation ahead of Monday’s meeting
He then changed his tune the following day, expressing regret for making the comments in a statement
The mayor said he wasn’t concerned by the criticism from his constituents and asserted that there was only one person in the town of fewer than 2,000 who didn’t like him.
He then changed his tune the following day, expressing regret for making the comments in a statement.
‘Although I believe my comment was taken out of context and was not targeting the LGBTQ community, I know that it was wrong to say anyone should be kill,’ he wrote.
‘I hope very much our Citizens and anyone that was hurt by this comment can accept my apology.’
The mayor faced immense criticism and pressure to resign but refused. Protesters even staged a ‘die-in’ before a city council meeting in July last year.
Protesters laid down on the grass outside the building before addressing Chambers directly, asking ow he would like to kill them.
One demonstrator carried a sign that read: ‘If you kill me, my ghost will haunt you.’
The meeting ended abruptly before the mayor walked out past a group of outraged critics.
Chambers was elected mayor in 2014. His biography on the town’s official website says he got involved in local politics because he believed Carbon Hill was not headed in the right direction.