Minnesota’s state Republican chair apologized Monday to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) for a post on the 7th Congressional District Republican Party’s Facebook page calling the congressman “Minnesota’s Head Muslim Goat Humper.”
“As chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota I absolutely would like to issue an apology to Congressman Ellison,” state party chair Jennifer Carnahan told the Star Tribune on Monday.
She would not identify the person who made the post, per the Star Tribune, but said that they “resigned immediately” and “no longer represent” the state’s Republican Party.
The original post was deleted several hours after it was made on Monday night. According to a screencap taken by GoMN, its original caption cited conservative commentator David Horowitz and referred to Ellison as a “raving, Louis Farrakhan supporting, anti-Semite, anti-white, racist and fascist American.”
Minnesota Republicans call Keith Ellison "Muslim Goat Humper" https://t.co/lOC08i8A7M pic.twitter.com/Ssm3jTFm68
— City Pages (@citypages) May 2, 2017
“Does that mean Muslim Refugees coming to Western Minnesota?” the post ended.
Carnahan on Monday night responded on Facebook, where she called the post “repugnant hate speech” which “in no way reflects the values of the Minnesota Republican Party, or the 7th Congressional District Republicans.”
“I have asked for the immediate resignation of the individual responsible for this action,” she wrote. “As Chair, I will not tolerate such activity from anyone associated with our party.”
“The CD7 Executive Board deeply regrets an earlier post regarding Congressman Keith Ellison,” the district party said in a later Facebook post. “The individual responsible has had all posting privileges revoked and has resigned effectively immediately.”
Ken Martin, the chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, called the post “disgusting, racist and hateful” in a statement released Monday.
“The ignorance and bigotry displayed in this post is staggering and disheartening,” Martin said. “Americans across the country have witnessed a disturbing increase in this type of threatening behavior and fear mongering since the election of Donald Trump, and now it seems the Minnesota Republican Party is embracing it all too much.”
Reached by email, Ellison’s office did not have a comment on the post, though Ellison thanked Martin on Twitter for his statement “denouncing hate.”
.@kenmartin73, thank you for statement from the Office of the DFL Chairman, denouncing hate | Minnesota DFL https://t.co/ejAdiKVjAE
— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) May 2, 2017
