Pamela Ramsay Taylor, a director of a not-for-profit group in Clay County, West Virginia, posted on Facebook about her delight at the prospect of having a ‘classy’ First Lady.

She added: “I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”

Beverly Whaling, the town Mayor, replied saying “just made my day Pam”.

The Facebook post has since been deleted and both accounts were eventually removed. But screenshots have been shared thousands of times on social media.

Online petitions have called for the two to be fired. Taylor has since been sacked from the government-funded Clay Development Corporation.

Official removed from post after calling Michelle Obama "ape in heels" https://t.co/FS8q2OaACt pic.twitter.com/gDsdP32DJ0

— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) 15 novembre 2016

Whaling told the Washington Post that she was not racist.

“My comment was not intended to be racist at all,” she wrote. “I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused! Those who know me know that I’m not of any way racist!”

Taylor reportedly told the paper that the response she received had become a “hate crime against me” and that she is planning to sue those who libelled her. (Everton Cayle - Euronews)