A racist comment against First Lady Michelle Obama by Republican activist and former Richland County South Carolina Republicans Chairman Rusty DePass was brought back into the spotlight on November 15th. In June 2009, a Facebook user, Trey Walker, mentioned that a gorilla had escaped from the Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina on the Facebook page for the Chief of Staff of then South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster.
DePass followed up the comment with a statement that no one should worry because it was an ancestor of the First Lady and “probably harmless.” The Richland County Republicans chairman at the time, Eric Davis, asked the public to move on from the statement and forgive DePass because “everyone says stupid things they regret later.”
Although DePass eventually sort of apologized for the comment, which he stated was posted “in jest,” racism revealed on the Internet doesn’t just disappear forever. The story about the comment trended again over the weekend even though it and the Facebook page for DePass were removed back in 2009. On Facebook, Northern Kentucky University lecturer Matt Birkenhauer yesterday referred to the “apology” given in 2009 by DePass as an example of a “nopology” — an apology given for a racist or other derogatory comment that isn’t sincere and contains some sort of excuse for the gaffe.
Other than his real estate business, the public hasn’t heard much about DePass in the news since the incident, but now the Internet is flooded once again with his not-so-humorous commentary.