An Indiana state senator is under fire for a Sunday post on his Facebook page that referred to women who gathered at the massive Women’s March on Washington as “fat,” The Indianapolis Star reported.
The meme shared on state Sen. Jack E. Sandlin’s (R) Facebook page said “In one day Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years,” according to screenshots. It was an apparent reference to the former first lady’s campaign for healthy eating and exercise.
Jack Sandlin is a member of the Indiana State Senate. This is what we’re dealing with. pic.twitter.com/7ZW1bnibnN
— whitney (@its_whitney) January 23, 2017
After screenshots of the post circulated online to much criticism, the post was deleted from Sadlin’s profile, the Star reported. He then issued a message about the meme on his page denying that he published it.
“Apparently there is an offensive post on Facebook that’s attributed to me about women in Washington marching,” Sandlin wrote, according to the newspaper. “Not sure how that ended up on my Facebook wall but that certainly does not reflect my opinion of women. People who know me will know that’s not my view.”
After that post, too, drew criticism, it was deleted and Sandlin’s Twitter profile was made private.
“I don’t believe that I put it there,” Sandlin told the Star. “There’s always an outside chance that I could have hit something. I know others that have had stuff show up on their Facebook wall as well.”
Sandlin is not the only Indiana lawmaker under fire for crude comments about Saturday’s protestors. Indiana state Rep. Jim Lucas (R) shared a post that showed a female protestor being pepper sprayed in the face with the message “participation trophies, now in liquid form.”
After Lucas’s post received backlash, he issued several follow up messages on the same Facebook page, ranging from asking people to “lighten up” to posting pictures of puppies and kittens.
