Politician under fire for calling Ian Wright ‘typical black hypocrite,’ later says she abhors racism
Alexis McEvoy shared the remark, referring to Wright, during a social media discussion about Gary Lineker's controversial tweet regarding the English government's new immigration law.
An English politician is under public scrutiny after referring to a popular media personality as “a typical black hypocrite.”
Conservative Party member Alexis McEvoy, a representative for South Waterside on Hampshire County Council and for Fawley, Blackfield and Langley on the New Forest District Council, is now at the center of a police investigation after using the phrase on Twitter to criticize former professional footballer Ian Wright, Daily Mail reported.
McEvoy shared the remark during a social media discussion surrounding sports broadcaster Gary Lineker’s controversial tweet regarding the government’s new immigration law, which reportedly allows for the deportation of anyone landing in the country illegally. The councilwoman shared someone else’s Twitter post about Wright to her 500 followers, adding the words “a typical black hypocrite” and an enraged devil emoji.
The tweet was deleted and McEvoy’s Twitter account has been deactivated. She has left the Conservative Party and stepped down from her position on the New Forest National Park Authority following social media backlash, expressing regret for her remarks.
“I find racism in any form abhorrent,” McEvoy said in light of the pending investigations, according to Daily Mail. She added that she reported herself to the monitoring officers and suspended herself from the Conservative factions of the New Forest District Council and Hampshire County Council.
McEvoy, who hails from Langley in Hampshire, served as a governor for the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which oversees the city’s primary hospital. The trust announced that she had resigned from that position.
In a statement released by the county’s Conservative Party, the councilwoman acknowledged that the now-deleted tweet was considered offensive toward someone, though she failed to identify Wright by name.
“‘I am aware that a tweet I sent, and then deleted, has caused offense,” McEvoy said, according to Daily Mail. “I did not mean it to do so, and I am deeply sorry.”
However, Wright was not convinced and accused McEvoy of displaying fake remorse.
“There is one person that I want to address directly, the Hampshire councilor Alexis McEvoy,” he said on his “Wright’s House” podcast, adding that he just wanted to tell her to “please just keep your fake apology to yourself.”
After suspending her Conservative ties, McEvoy will serve as an independent member of the New Forest District Council and the Hampshire County Council while Hampshire police continue to look into her posting.
Although McEvoy stated she was not prepared to speak further on the matter, the councilwoman claimed that people are taking her tweet out of context and looking to discredit her before elections.
“Are we going to talk about all the good things I do for people, whatever color they are?” she said, Daily Mail reported. “I do a lot of good things for people.”
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