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Ohio mayor under fire for Facebook rant

Posted at 7:53 PM, Dec 01, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-01 19:53:02-05

Hillsboro, Ohio mayor and comedian Drew Hastings posted a Facebook status last week that many people hope was just a joke.

While the post got almost 300 "likes" on Facebook before he deleted it, but some of his constituents didn't find it all that funny.

Hastings' post said "we are in a revolution in this country," before listing racial, religious and political groups that he claimed are "at war" in the U.S.

The Facebook status was made after the Planned Parenthood shooting on Friday, with a preceding post accusing the Colorado shooting that killed three people of being a "clever, devious fundraising effort."

Hastings said "blacks have all but formally declared war on whites, ideological types are fighting with Planned Parenthood, there's violence over immigration, Muslim extremism and our own government is at war with its citizens.

"This isn't 'lone wolf' stuff. It isn't a crazy with a gun," the post continued. "It isn't 'domestic terrorism.' These are all skirmishes in a revolution that's here.

"Pick your side and pick your battles. We are about three steps away from All Bets Are Off."

Hastings' professional background is in comedy, which turned some heads when he was elected for a first term in 2012.

His promotional website said he chose to run for mayor and "won by a landslide" because "I think this country is going to hell in a hand basket – I don’t think we even make our own hand baskets here anymore. I can’t do anything about the U.S., but I can do something about the one place where I live.”

The Associated Press reported that Hastings was re-elected in 2015 with 59 percent of mayoral votes in the 6,600-person town.

"Drew is known as an edgy, intelligent, performer in venues from comedy clubs to theatres," his website said. "As mayor, he’s outspoken, serious, politically incorrect, and passionate about economic development."

He also describes himself as a farmer, and his website said he became a farmer because he wanted "to live on both sides of the food chain."

But after the Facebook rant over Thanksgiving weekend, Steven Williams of Hillsboro said he isn't such a big fan of his mayor. He even said that the comments should be enough for Hastings to be fired.

"I think it was way over the top, inappropriate and not something an elected official should be doing," he said.

But right now, the president of Hillsboro city council said members don't plan on taking any action against Mayor Hastings.