A Dallas weatherman who resigned before he could be fired over a Facebook post calling the victims of police violence "thugs" said he didn't know the comment would be interpreted as racist, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Bob Goosmann, formerly chief meteorologist for KRLD, posted the comment on Wednesday and by Friday had resigned, stating that he would have "rightly" been fired had he not.
"As many of you have probably noticed, I've stayed away from politics on FB," Goosmann had written. "The DNC parading the mothers of slain thugs around on their stage has me furious."
He has since deleted the post.
On Tuesday, the Democratic National Convention featured African-American mothers whose children had died at the hands of police, gun violence or racially-motivated attacks.
They included the likes of Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother, Lucia McBath, the mother of Jordan Davis, a Florida teen who was killed by a white man complaining about the volume of his music, Cleopatra Pendleton-Cowley, mother of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot in the back after being caught in gang crossfire and Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody after a traffic stop.
Speakers also included the mothers of Oscar Grant, Mike Brown and Eric Garner, whose deaths at the hands of police officers helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the women were introduced by Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay, who said Americans should “respect and support our police officers while at the same time pushing for these important criminal justice reforms.”
"I used the word thugs in my post, but I thought a thug was just a violent person," Goosmann wrote in response to criticism. "The definition of thug does not mention any race. I will say I talked with an African American acquaintance and he told me that he feels like when he hears the word, it is in reference to an African American individual. I had NO IDEA."
A Twitter user angered over Goosmann's comments sent a screenshot of Goosmann's post to his employer.
.@KRLD Is @KRLDGoosmannWX your employee? #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/AA7XYQTVx4— Torraine Walker (@Torraine Walker) 1469737505.0
"What I say online, no matter where, reflects upon my station and employer," Goosmann wrote. "KRLD is a great station, providing invaluable information to all listeners, and I am sorry if they have had to deal with all the repercussions."
