A white Tennessee state lawmaker issued an apology after making a joke about fried chicken to a black colleague.
Rep. Mike Carter directed the quip to Rep. Joe Towns, whom he called on to speak during a subcommittee hearing Monday, according to the Times Free Press. Carter, who was unable to get Towns’ attention, said that he must be busy “getting the secret formula to Kentucky Fried Chicken and pretty concentrated on that.”
Carter apologized hours later on the Republican-led House chamber’s floor.
“Thank you for allowing me to address the body and to my friend Joe Towns of Memphis,” Carter explained. “Today, earlier in a committee meeting, I said something stupid. Foot-in-mouth disease, I suppose. I made an inappropriate and deeply regretful comment that hurt my friend Joe’s feelings. … I am never as hurt as when I hurt someone else. I hurt him, and I hurt every member of this House with my comment. Joe, Rep. Towns — Joe, if I may, I sincerely apologize to you and all of my colleagues and, more importantly, to the citizens of Tennessee.”
Towns accepted the apology shortly thereafter, noting that he was setting a good example for others.
“I appreciate you being man enough to come before this body and the people that are here in the listening audience, especially young children and African American people, to see exactly how you rectify certain things,” he said.
“Historically in our country, we’ve had a lot of problems,” Towns continued. “Today is a topsy-turvy kind of a day, and there’s much going on in this country, and there’s so much going on here last week in the march that some of us participated in. And it’s very critical that we have to mind our words as it relates to women and children and ethnic groups that have been maligned over a period of time.”
The debacle comes amid heightened racial tensions following the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests that have been organized in dozens of cities as people raise awareness on issues like systemic racism and police brutality.
