Pennsylvania GOP official resigns over racist Facebook posts

A Pennsylvania Republican official who referred to black NFL players who kneel during the national anthem as "baboons" in a Facebook post has resigned.

San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, in Seattle, in September 2016. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick kneels during the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks, in Seattle, in September 2016. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

A Pennsylvania Republican official who referred to black NFL players who kneel during the national anthem as “baboons” in a Facebook post has resigned.

Former Beaver County Republican Committee secretary Carla Maloney resigned Friday in a letter to the committee’s chairman. Maloney apologized for her “insensitive” posts and said she would “work to show everyone” who she is.

Maloney called the players “baboons” on her personal Facebook account in response to athletes who have knelt during the national anthem to protest social injustice. In another post, she said “overpaid ignorant blacks” should “go to Africa.”

The Beaver County Republican Committee said in a statement that it had accepted Maloney’s resignation and denounced her comments.

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Maloney couldn’t immediately be reached.

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