The Trump presidential campaign New York co-chair who made inflammatory and racist statements about Barack and Michelle Obama says he will not resign from the Buffalo school board, which on Thursday voted to remove him.

Millionaire developer Carl Paladino last week told a Buffalo alternative newspaper he wanted to see the president dead of mad cow disease and the first lady living with a gorilla in Zimbabwe.

Having first said the comments had “nothing to do with race”, he also said they were examples of “old-style humour” intended “to wake people up … to get people’s attention”.

The newspaper, Artvoice, included Paladino, 70, among a number of people asked what they wanted to see happen in 2017.



“[Barack] Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Her[e]ford,” he said.



“He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to [senior Obama adviser] Valerie Jarret[t], who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady [sic] cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.”

About Michelle Obama, he said: “I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”

In a statement, Paladino said he had spoken “about two progressive elitist ingrates who have hated their country so badly and destroyed its fabric in so many respects in eight years”.

He subsequently said his words were not meant for publication but were nevertheless “inappropriate”.

At a special meeting on Thursday, the Buffalo school board voted 6-2 for a resolution asking the state education commissioner to remove Paladino, the ninth member, if he did not resign within 24 hours. More than 70% of the district is non-white, according to the resolution.

The meeting was broadcast online. Some board members accused Paladino of acting like a bully and making remarks they would not tolerate from students.



“This level of hatred for African Americans cannot and should not set policy for the education of African American children,” said board member Paulette Woods.

Members of the audience stood up and cheered when the resolution was approved.



Paladino, who did not attend, has said he will not resign. On Wednesday he told a local radio station: “I’m the agent of change. I’m the guy that exposed the underbelly of their corrupt and dysfunctional school system, and they want me gone from the scene.”



The state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, is monitoring the situation and will review any removal request as quickly as possible, a spokeswoman said.

Paladino’s comments about the Obamas were condemned by figures including New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, who beat Paladino in the 2010 election. A Trump spokesperson said the comments were “absolutely reprehensible, and they serve no place in our public discourse”.

Paladino visited Trump Tower earlier this month, telling the Buffalo News he spent an hour with the president-elect and key members of his inner circle.

Among those Paladino said he met were vice-president-elect Mike Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus, senior counsel Stephen Bannon, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and nominated national security adviser Michael Flynn.

“It was a wide-ranging conversation about all the people across the state who were on my team,” the newspaper reported Paladino as saying.

“We talked about New Yorkers who might have a role, how we might structure appointments and who would get input. I think I will have an ongoing ability to make recommendations.”