Lawyer admits 'grave mistake' in tweet taunt, labeled a 'blatant racist smear'
A New York lawyer has resigned from his bar leadership position after recognizing he made a “grave mistake” in a tweet taunt aimed at a losing GOP candidate for lieutenant governor who is black.
The tweet by White Plains lawyer Andrew Barovick was aimed at losing candidate Christopher Moss, who is currently the sheriff of upstate Chemung County, report the New York Post, the Journal News and the New York Law Journal.
“In light of election loss,” Barovick’s tweet said, Moss is “mulling offers to be new spokesmodel for either Cream of Wheat or Uncle Ben’s Rice.”
Barovick, a Democratic activist, resigned his position as chairman of the New York City Bar Association’s medical malpractice committee on Tuesday.
Moss called the tweet “a blatant racist smear” while the bar association said it was dismayed at Barovick’s use of “offensive and inflammatory language.”
Initially Barovick refused a demand to retract the statement, but he expressed regret in his resignation letter. “As you know, I made a grave mistake by attempting to use humor to personally convey my frustration with the New York Republican Party through a tweet that upset a great number of people,” he wrote.
