Fla. State Senator Who Used N-Word Being Asked to Resign

A Florida state senator who used the n-word in front of black colleagues on Tuesday is being asked to resign by the Florida Democratic Party, The Washington Post reports.

Republican State Sen. Frank Artiles referred to six white senators as "n‑‑‑ers" at a private club in Tallahassee and called a Black colleague a "f---ing a-hole," "bit--" and a "girl."

According to the Miami Herald, Artiles told Sens. Audrey Gibson and Perry Thurston that Senate President Joe Negron had risen to his GOP leadership role because "six n‑‑‑ers" in the Republican caucus had elected him.

Artiles later apologized and told Gibson and Thurston that his use of the n-word was not meant to be insulting.

"In an exchange with a colleague of mine in the Senate, I unfortunately let my temper get the best of me," he said in a statement to the Herald. "There is no excuse for the exchange that occurred and I have apologized to my Senate colleagues and regret the incident profusely."

The Florida Democratic Party called Artiles' behavior "disgusting, unacceptable" and said it had "no place in our democracy or our society."

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