N.C. Speaker Fires Aide Over Racial Slurs

The speaker of the North Carolina House fired his spokesman Friday for having used a racial slur to describe blacks protesting at the legislative building.

“Effective immediately, he is not on my staff,” Speaker Harold Brubaker said of Don Follmer. “What he has said is wrong.”

Follmer had referred to protesters at the General Assembly earlier this month as “niggers and wormy kids.” He admitted using the racial slur to refer to more than 100 University of North Carolina housekeepers, many of them black.

When the remarks were first reported Wednesday, Follmer described himself simply as being politically incorrect. As criticism built, Follmer apologized Thursday.