“If Brains were lard, you couldn’t grease a small skillet.” Senator apologizes after tweet at marchers

A North Carolina state senator and the state’s insurance commissioner took to social media Monday to criticize last weekend’s women’s marches but deleted their posts amid the backlash.

State Sen. Joyce Krawiec, a Republican from Kernersville and former vice chair of the state GOP, suggested Monday night on Twitter that some of Saturday’s marchers were not very smart.

Her tweet: “Message to crazies @ Women’s March - If Brains were lard, you couldn’t grease a small skillet. You know who you are.”

The tweet has been deleted, but she explained more about what she meant to Winston-Salem television reporter Jarred Hill of WXII, who asked her on Twitter to elaborate. Krawiec said there were “way over the top scenes” during the event and that the protest was not respectful.

Krawiec, who represents Senate District 31, which includes Forsyth and Yadkin counties, apologized for the tweets in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

“Like many other Americans, I was deeply offended by vulgar language and graphic imagery used by some protesters,” she said in the statement. “I have apologized for the words I used to express those frustrations, which were unfair to the many women who advocated for their beliefs in a respectful way.”

She also posted an apology on Twitter, saying she was speaking only of “the DC protesters dressed inappropriately and spewing foul language. Disrespecting women. Not representing women.”

At least 17,000 women, men and children filled the streets of downtown Raleigh on Saturday, the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the nation’s 45th president. That march was one of hundreds in cities throughout the country, showing solidarity with the Women’s March in Washington. The march in the nation’s capital attracted hundreds of thousands of women.

Newly elected North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey, a Republican, also caused a stir on Facebook on Monday after sharing a post that showed a street filled with marchers and said “In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years,” according to a report from television station WRAL.

Causey later apologized for the share, calling it a “momentary lapse in judgment” in a statement to WRAL. On Tuesday morning, Causey’s Facebook page could not be accessed.

Politicians in other states, including Indiana and Nebraska, also came under fire for their posts in the aftermath of the weekend marches.

A similar post to Causey’s popped up Sunday in the social media feed of Jack E. Sandlin, a Republican who represents a district in central Indiana in the state’s senate, according to the Indianapolis Star. The paper said Sandlin removed the post and said he did not believe he put it there.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 8:24 AM with the headline "“If Brains were lard, you couldn’t grease a small skillet.” Senator apologizes after tweet at marchers."