St. Pete mayoral candidate Robert Blackmon: Social media posts 'do not reflect who I am'

[Zorro]

Blackmon said in a statement Friday that he didn’t know if each of the Facebook posts are “accurate,” but that they are “inappropriate, shameful and embarrassing.”

ST. PETERSBURG — Mayoral candidate and City Council member Robert Blackmon said circulating screenshots of Facebook posts he appeared to make with vulgar and disparaging remarks about women, Asians and tenants “do not reflect who I am today, what I stand for or how I will conduct myself as St. Petersburg’s next mayor.”

The posts include several references to women as a “bitch” and three generations of women, including a 3-year-old, as “sluts.” They also included comments about Asian people and made light of removing tenants from a building.

Blackmon, 32, said in a statement Friday that he didn’t know if each of the Facebook posts are “accurate,” but that they are “inappropriate, shameful and embarrassing.” He characterized the circulation of the posts as repeated threats to his campaign.

“This is a sad, desperate attempt by my opponents who are unnerved by the recent poll numbers reflecting my momentum, and by a former candidate for City Council with an axe to grind,” the statement said. “These Facebook posts appear to be from years ago, while Ken Welch’s characterization of former Mayor Rick Baker as a ‘massa’ was from just last year, during his 20th year in elected office.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/elections/2021/08/07/st-pete-mayoral-candidate-robert-blackmon-social-media-posts-do-not-reflect-who-i-am/

Interesting that the entire article never mentions that Blackmon is a registered Republican.