Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel has resigned after photos from a Halloween party 14 years ago that show him wearing blackface and dressed up as a Hurricane Katrina victim surfaced in a new Tallahassee Democrat report.
“The governor accepted Secretary Ertel’s resignation,” Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office said in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat Thursday. When reached by TPM, the office said it didn’t yet have a statement on the incident.
The pictures show Ertel wearing blackface, red lipstick, earrings, a New Orleans Saints bandana tied around his head and a t-shirt that said “Katrina Victim” scrawled across it. They were reportedly captured in 2005, just months after Hurricane Katrina ransacked New Orleans, causing nearly 2,000 deaths. At the time, Ertel was serving as the supervisor of elections for Seminole County in Florida.
Ertel would not comment to the Democrat on the record, telling the newspaper, “there’s nothing I can say.”
Read the full report here.
The photo was taken in 2005, eight months after Ertel was appointed Seminole County supervisor of elections and two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. https://t.co/quleb5ZMGX
— Tallahassee Democrat (@TDOnline) January 24, 2019
This IS the Republican Party. Yes, its the political party that is so not racist. Like the dude who stole the White House with help from Putin and Russian military intelligence is the least racist person in America. Same same.
Wow, that party pic…
He’s got the same makeup person as Trump.
Same sized breasts as Trump, too… Moobs !!
Poor DeSantis! Now he has to search high and low for a new Secretary of State who only makes fun of women, gays, Mexicans, and Asians.
Not sure i really approve of these public executions for years-old stupidity. Odious and stupid, sure, but unless there is some connection to discrimination in his current job, don’t understand why he’s resigning.
Probably because there’s more out there, and he wants to put it to bed.