Kalyn Chapman James recorded the two-minute long clip in her car outside her local church while struggling to hold back tears

The first black Miss Alabama has been suspended from her job at a Miami TV station after calling the Dallas cop sniper 'a martyr'.

Kalyn Chapman James, who hosts weekly art program the Art Loft on WPBT2, recorded a two-minute long Facebook clip in her car outside her local church while struggling to hold back tears.

In it the 1993 Miss Alabama admitted that she felt little towards the five officers killed when Micah Johnson opened fire during a rally in the Texas city last week.

Despite conceding that she did not want to agree with her natural feelings, Mrs James stressed that her heart was with both Johnson and the two black Americans killed by police officers in shootings that sparked the Dallas riots - Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

The married former beauty queen said: 'I don't feel sad for the officers who lost their lives and I know that's not really my heart.

'I value human life. And I want to feel sad for them but I can't help but feeling like the shooter was a martyr.

'I don't want to feel this way and I know it's not the right way to feel because nobody deserves to lose their lives. But I'm sick of this.'

'I can't stop replaying the image of these men being killed in my mind and my heart weeps.'

In her recording, Mrs James (left) admitted that she felt little towards the officers killed when Micah Johnson (right) opened fire during a rally in the Texas city last week

'And I know that those police officers had families and people who loved them and that they didn't deserve to die but I'm so torn up in my heart about seeing these men — these black men — being gunned down in our community that I can't help, I can't help but feel like I wasn't surprised by what the shooter did to those cops and I think a lot of us feel the same way.'

Channel WPBT2 issued a statement on its Twitter account Monday afternoon saying: 'WPBT2 South Florida PBS does not condone the personal statements made by one of its independent contractors regarding the events in Dallas.'

'It placed the contractor on administrative leave while it actively and carefully looks further into the matter and will determine additional course of actions based on its thorough review of the matter.'

After the video went viral with more than 220,000 views, she was forced to issue a statement expressing her condolences to the murdered policemen.

Kalyn Chapman James - Alabama's first black Miss Alabama - has now been suspended from her job as a host at Miami TV station WPBT2

After the video went viral with more than 220,000 views, she was forced to issue a statement expressing her condolences to the murdered policemen

Speaking to AL.com, she said: 'The fact that my opinion was considered newsworthy makes me feel like speaking up was exactly what I should do, because I can voice what so many people are feeling and dealing with and they should know they are not alone.'

In the wake of her suspension, she told television news station WPMI 15 in Mobile that her comments were taken out of context and that she had even been contacted by the wife of a Dallas police officer.