NC first lady apologizes for Facebook comment about ‘flipping off’ Trump supporters
North Carolina first lady Kristin Cooper apologized Thursday night for a Facebook comment in which she said she “flipped off” President Trump supporters by the State Capitol in downtown Raleigh days before the election.
Cooper is married to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who was reelected to a second term on Tuesday.
“My personal Facebook comments and actions leading to it were inappropriate, and I am so sorry. I apologize to anyone I may have hurt, and I ask for forgiveness,” Kristin Cooper said in an emailed statement from her press secretary to The News & Observer on Thursday night.
According to a screenshot of the comment that circulated on social media, Kristin Cooper responded to a comment about the event on another Facebook user’s private page.
Her comment included: “There was a pitiful family group waving those flags by the Capitol today. I flipped them off and told them to go home. Was flipping off a brainwashed kid my finest hour? Probably not, but I can live with it.”
The event Sunday was a rally to encourage Christians to vote, WRAL reports. Michelle Morrow, one of the event organizers, told WRAL that the group had a permit to hold the event at the State Capitol. Morrow said drivers harassed them as they drove by, but they did not know Cooper was one of them until hearing about the social media post.
A screenshot of the post started circulating on social media on Election Day after it appeared in First in Freedom Daily, a conservative website. Brent Jensen of WBT news talk radio in Charlotte tweeted it with the hashtag #unconfirmed, and it was retweeted by others, including NCGOP spokesperson Tim Wigginton.
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This story was originally published November 5, 2020, 10:37 PM.
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