A racist Facebook post about Michelle Obama has sparked a furious backlash which saw a West Virginia mayor forced to resign.
The First Lady was branded an "ape in heels" in a vile social media post comparing her to president-elect Donald Trump's wife Melania.
Following the Republican candidate's victory, Facebook user Pamela Ramsey Taylor, from the tiny town of Clay in West Virginia, praised the shift from Obama to Trump.
She wrote: "It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady back in the White House.
"I'm tired of seeing an ape in heels."
The post and comments were subsequently deleted but were widely circulated online, sparking a furious backlash.
An online petition calling for the women's ouster drew 150,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
5:10 AM - 15 Nov 2016
Whaling handed in her resignation, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Whaling apologised and said her comment was not intended to be racist.
"I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused!" she wrote.
Clay is a town of some 500 people about 25 miles northeast of state capital Charleston.
It has no African American residents, according to the 2010 census.
In Clay County as a whole, more than 98% of its 9,000 residents are white, the BBC reported.
