'Ape in heels' post

Mayor resigns over Michelle Obama 'ape in heels' post

Beverly Whaling had appeared to applaud a Facebook post referring to Mrs Obama as an "ape in heels".

She wrote that the post had made her day, but later said she was referring to the election outcome.

A petition calling for the mayor's resignation had gathered over 170,000 signatures.

Ms Whaling was the mayor of the town of Clay, which has a population of just 491.

The town has no African American residents, according to the 2010 census. In Clay County as a whole, more than 98% of its 9,000 residents are white.