Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Andrew Wheeler disavowed a racist Facebook post he had liked in the platform, calling the meme “absolutely offensive.”
At an event in California Thursday, Wheeler told reporters that he didn’t remember liking the 2013 post that showed then-President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, looking at a banana, according to E&E News.
“I don’t remember doing it. At all. I believe it was probably on accident,” E&E reported Wheeler as saying.
{mosads} “You know, 90 percent of my Facebook is done on my iPhone, just scrolling through it. It was not on purpose. I find it offensive. In fact, when I was shown the picture by my staff, I said, ‘What the hell is this,’ and they said, ‘It’s from your Facebook,’ and I said, ‘No, it’s not.’”
HuffPost first reported earlier this week that left-wing group American Bridge 21st Century had found the post and Wheeler’s “like” of it.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) called on Wheeler to resign over the revelation.
“The head of a government agency has no place ‘liking’ racist memes or promoting the work of Pizzagate conspiracy theorists,” he said, referring to the pedophilia conspiracy theory.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Wheeler should “disavow” the post.