Washington: Washington state Mayor Patrick Rushing has compared US President Barack Obama's family to monkeys and called First Lady Michelle 'gorilla face' on his Facebook post.

According to website KXLY, Airway Heights Mayor Patrick Rushing was slammed when he admitted that it was he who had posted the offensive comment on his Facebook page.

“Gorilla face Michelle, can’t disagree with that,” the message said. “The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL. (sic)”

However, when the Airway Heights City Council asked him to step down from his post over his controversial remark, Rushing refused to do so.

“I made a mistake. I owned up to my mistake. If I do resign that’s admitting I’m a racist and I’m not,” said Rushing as per the Spokesman-Review.

Rushing's remarks drew flak from many members of the Airway Heights community who termed them 'racists' and 'derrogatory'.

"It's just playful back and forth banter that my friends and I do," Rushing was quoted as saying by IBTimes.