The mayor of Carbon Hill, Alabama, has resigned over a controversial social media post involving the University of Alabama football team and its support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Mark Chambers turned his resignation letter to the city clerk on Saturday, according to local news reports. An emergency council meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
Chambers’ resignation came hours after he made some disparaging comments on his Facebook page. The mayor wrote that he was selling “several” pictures of the Alabama football team and head coach Nick Saban because of their “sorry” political views. “Tide is done in my opinion,” he wrote, according to screenshots cited by the Daily Mail.
When one person commented, “I think you may be right they haven’t looked as good the last couple of years,” Chambers replied, “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 response to another comment, Chambers wrote, “When you put Black lives before all lives they can kiss my ass.”
The post, which he reportedly removed on Sunday, appeared to be a response to a two- minute video shared on the official social media pages of Alabama Football last week. The video shows a diverse group of players and Saban reading an essay by Crimson Tide offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood that says “All lives can’t matter until black lives matter.”
Chambers, whose city has about 2,000 people, faced backlash last June for defending a public Facebook post where he suggested “killing out” gay and transgender people, socialists and “baby killers.”
He later apologized for the statements. Two Carbon Hill council members, however, resigned as they didn’t want to be associated with his comments, reports said.