Warning: The video featured in this article contains a racial slur.
Tom Pompsello, a Republican district leader in Yorktown, New York, used a racial slur to celebrate Councilman Vishnu Patel’s loss in the local elections, Yorktown News reports.
Yorktown Republican candidates were delivering victory speeches on election night when Pomposello began loudly celebrating Patel’s failure to win reelection.
“Vishnu’s gone. Gone. Gone,” Pomposello can be heard shouting in a video. “That mother****r. That fu****g sand n****r.”
Yorktown News was made aware of the racial slur on Sunday, November 7. Pomposello reached out to the news outlet on Monday, November 8, to apologize.
“I want to apologize,” Pomposello said. “It was disgusting. It was something I don’t remember saying. I watched it and listened to it and said, ‘Oh, my God. It’s me.’”
Pomposello has now resigned from his position with the Yorktown Republican Town Committee, Long Island News reports.
Patel told Yorktown News that the use of the slur did not surprise him.
“It is not surprising that one individual at a Republican gathering should shout out a vile obscene remark about my nationality,” Patel said. “Donald Trump’s behavior as president gave permission for the worst elements in the Republican Party to say and do things openly that they would never have dared to in the past.”
Patel said he hopes the new generation of Republicans will be different.
The new Town Supervisor Matt Slater, who is also a Republican, said he was appalled and disgusted by Pomposello’s comments.
“While we cannot take back the words that were said, we can be sure to send a clear message that racism will not be tolerated and people will be held accountable for their actions,” Slater told Yorktown News. “We need to combat racism and hatred together as a community and the town should not partner with anyone who fails to uphold these values.”
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This article mentions that Mr. Pomposello called the radio station to apologize, but does not state whether or not he also called and apologized to Councilman Patel. Omitting the actual injured party thereby treating him as a non-entity further exacerbates the injury done to him, not only by Pomposello, but also by this news source.