NC GOP Official Fired over Racist Comments on The Daily Show

Yeah, references to "lazy black people" tend to draw attention

Don Yelton, a local GOP official in North Carolina, has been forced to resign following an appearance this week on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" in which he made a series of racially charged remarks.

On Wednesday, correspondent Aasif Mandvi traveled to North Carolina to look at the effect of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. There he met with Yelton, a precinct chairman in Buncombe County and an advocate of the state's strict new voter ID laws which, according to some, disproportionately target minority voters.

In the segment, Yelton denied that the laws were in any way racist. But when it came to his own views, he was less adamant. When asked point-blank if he was a racist, Yelton took a long pause then replied, "Well, I've been called a bigot before."

From there he continued to dig an even deeper hole, telling Mandvi "one of my best friends is black," repeatedly using the N-word and saying he favored the state's new laws because "if it hurts the whites, so be it. If it hurts lazy black people that wants the government to give them everything, so be it." (He also admitted the new regulations were politically motivated—or, as he put it, "The law is going to kick the Democrats in the butt.")