Less than two weeks after being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican Secretary of State Michael Ertel has resigned after being exposed as a bigot.
Photos emerged online this week of Ertel dressed in drag and posing as a Hurricane Katrina victim. The photos were reportedly taken at a Halloween party 14 years ago, just two months after 1,800 people died in the devastating storm.
In the photos, Ethel is seen dressed in blackface and red lipstick, wearing earrings and a New Orleans Saints bandanna, fake boobs, and a purple T-shirt that says “Katrina Victim”.
Related: Blackface apologist Megyn Kelly deserves the hell she’s getting–and much more
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Two hours after they were published by the Tallahassee Democrat, the governor’s office confirmed Ertel had resigned.
Gov. DeSantis called the photos “unfortunate”, adding that Ertel has “done a lot of good work.”
“I don’t want to get mired into kind of side controversies, and so I felt it was best to just accept the resignation and move on,” he said, adding that he believes Ertel regrets what he did, “but at the same time I want people to be able to lead and not have these things swirling around them.”
The statement is ironic coming from DeSantis, a bigot who ran a racist campaign against Andrew Gillum last November that included no shortage of dog whistles, like telling voters not “monkey this up” by electing his black opponent and accepting campaign donations from a man who called President Obama a “n*gger Muslim”.
Related: This gay Instagrammer loves Trump and wore blackface for Halloween, insists he’s not racist
Asked for comment on the vile photos, all Ethel could say was, “There’s nothing I can say.”
In his resignation letter, 49-year-old Ethel wrote, “I am submitting my resignation as Florida secretary of state effective immediately. It has been an honor to serve you and the voters of Florida.”
Billy Budd
I have halloween photos from 2005, where I was dressed as a sailor. I actually won the contest for best costume during a midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show. I hope these pics will never be made public (online). I would have to resign too.
mountainmaat
Blackface is the main issue here, not just the katrina victim outfit. I dressed as a TEPCO employee right after Fukushima blew – No body understood it but one guy. It was legit. But it ain’t blackface!
Billy Budd
Blackface is a prejudice-oriented thing, ain’t it? We don’t have blackface in Brazil.
Kangol
@BillyBudd, do you really live in Brazil? Your country does have blackface issues; just look in your newspapers, especially around Carnival last year. Just to give you a refresher, during 2018 Carnaval, three top samba schools, Mangueira, Salgueiro and Beija Flor, sparked an uproar by wearing black face, and some had white Brazilian men playing the racist Nega Maluca character. This was covered in O Globo and Folha de Sao Paulo. Then last year a famous white Brazilian comedian, Rudi Landucci, wore blackface in his impersonation of soccer star Neymar, who is Afro-Brazilian (though he doesn’t always claim it). To give a third example, the show Pânico no Band featured characters in blackface, and some viewers protested.
Billy Budd
Yes, I live here, Kangol. And I had no idea.
bowlingbutch
Who is surprised a Republican has been shown to have a bigoted past? Anyone? I .
didn’t think so. Now, anyone surprised that republicans OWN every bit of hatred they have and pass on to their children? NO takers there either.
iamru2
I am not a Republican but I lol at this photo for many reasons. If you really believe that the only hateful people in the world are Republicans then you need to broaden your bubble a bit and get out into the real world more often. Lastly why does Jimmy Kimel get a pass on black face?
batesmotel
I disagree. Both sides have displayed bigotry. The worse offenders are the ones that claim to be inclusive, but make remarks that are bigoted. Many white gays are bigoted only looking for white athletics jocks on those hookup apps. Difficult to take the screamers of bigotry seriously.
Franklin
I’m sorry, which side is trying to have bigotry codified in law again? It ain’t the Democrats.
jeff1370
Let’s cut Florida loose and let it drift away…
Keebler ILF
The timing of this is suspicious. It is possible that a fellow republican released the photo to hurt him. Why?
The Florida GOP has been doing everything they can to suppress voters in that state. Ertel has been doing the opposite; trying to get as many people as possible registered to vote. He was even awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Good Citizenship award for his efforts.
I have mixed feelings about his resignation. The same way I have mixed feelings about Al Franken’s resignation when I was so proud of him for helping a female Halliburton employee get justice after she was raped by her co-workers.
bjohnmasters
Not out of the question Keebler. He was more of the sane Republicans I’ve seen in a while.
bjohnmasters
The issue wasn’t drag…it was the blackface.
SportGuy
Wow, another racist repub, shocking, NOT.
Blackceo
How hard is it to go through life and NOT wear blackface? Just DON’T DO IT!!!
Creamsicle
Why is it always Florida?
Aires the Ram
So, the “all Republicans are racist bigots” crowd rears its head. Which side of the Congress voted to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964? Which President was in office during and after the Civil War, and which side of Congress fought against any freedoms and/or reparations? In the late 1800’s and into the mid 1900’s, what political party were those associated with, who wore the pointy-headed white sheets and burned crosses? A little bit of education in American History goes a very long way.
Walker
Alternatively, a little education can make stupid people even dumber, since the “Abe Lincoln was a Republican” crowd seems to be completely ignorant of the massive party realignment that took place over the 20th Century. It’s like saying Nazi Germany was super liberal because two decades earlier the Weimar Republic existed. We’re talking about today, sweetie, not 150 years ago.
As for the Civil Rights act, more Democrats voted yea on the Senate Bill (which was eventually passed through reconciliation of both chambers) than Republicans did. And the strongly opposed Democrats were all from former Confederate states– you know what happened to those states after it passed, don’t you?
Tombear
I went as John Holmes one Halloween to a men’s party. I was very popular!