Councillor, PC candidate takes down video after backlash on social media
Posted Mar 28, 2017 05:33:53 AM.
Last Updated Mar 28, 2017 05:35:31 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – Regional councillor and PC candidate Matt Whitman is once again under fire for social media posts, now for a video some are calling racist.
The video was posted to YouTube on Mar. 19, and made the rounds on social media before it was taken down on Sunday.
Featuring Whitman and a passenger, the video saw the councillor yell “Chinese fire drill” while the two got out of a car, ran around it, and switched seats.
University of King’s College professor Simon Kow called the video careless from a politician.
“Some people will find it offensive,” Kow told Global News. “It obviously taps in to a certain stereotype about Chinese meaning something that is chaotic, confused, incompetent. That sort of thing.”
In a statement to Global, Whitman said he decided to remove it after seeing the distraction it had become. The provincial PC party has not commented.
Global News also reporting RCMP is looking into the matter.
Whitman is no stranger to controversy on social media. He was sanctioned by council last year over his tweets criticizing an RCMP officer and was forced to apologize.
