What did Jody Greene say? North Carolina sheriff resigns as racist tirade surfaces online

Jody Greene, a North Carolina sheriff, resigned on September 30 after local news station WECT obtained a recording that revealed the sheriff making racially disparaging remarks about African American employees at his office.

The resignation came after the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association deemed the recorded comments were “racially derogatory, insulting, and offensive.”

In a phone call, Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene, who is white, was recorded calling the African American employees “black b*stards,” who should be fired from their positions, WECT reports.

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Jody Greene was recorded by his political opponent Jason Soles

WECT gained access to the recording through Jason Soles, who is running for the sheriff’s office. Soles recorded Sheriff Jody Greene during a call in 2019, which was made after Greene narrowly won the Sheriff’s election against former Sheriff Lewis Hatcher, who is black. At the time, Jason Soles was named the interim sheriff as Greene was being challenged over his residency.

In the call, Jody Greene, seemingly aggrieved by the delay in assuming his duties, said he suspected that black employees were leaking information to former chief Lewis Hatcher, who was reportedly fighting to be reinstated to the sheriff’s office, WECT reported.

In a racially derogatory phone call, Green said:

“F**k them, Black b*stards. They think I’m scared? They’re stupid. I don’t know what else to do it. So it’s just time to clean them out. There’s a snitch in there somewhere telling what we are doing. And I’m not gonna have it. I’m not going to have it.”

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Jody Greene demoted African American employees shortly after he assumed duties as sheriff

According to WECT, Greene reportedly demoted two black employees after he was sworn into the sheriff’s office.

The outlet stated that before Greene assumed his duties, the two black members were part of a high-ranking command staff. However, Greene fired a captain and a Lieutenant was demoted shortly after he was sworn in. Several other black employees also endured pay cuts and demotions during Greene’s reign.

Greene told WECT - who reached out to the former sheriff for a comment on Monday - that he couldn’t recall the vitriolic rant against the black members in the office.

However, in a Facebook post on Thursday, he issued a lengthy statement where he said that Jason Soles' actions were politically motivated and inferred that the recorded comments were edited or altered. Greene, however, did not deny making pejorative comments against his employees.

He said:

“When Soles announced his candidacy for Sheriff, the Republican GOP of Columbus County was contacted by the Soles camp and expressed they wanted to run a clean smear-free campaign. From the alleged 2019 recordings Soles just released, it is clear he has other methods in mind.”

Soles told WECT that he had previously reached out to the State Bureau of Investigations and the county commissioner with the recordings but they refused to investigate without a formal request from a local prosecutor.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) demanded Jody Greene’s resignation after WECT exposed the racially defamatory phone call.

In a statement, the North Carolina NAACP said that Greene’s comments have revealed that the sheriff cannot perform his duties without racial bias clouding his judgment. They added that the sheriff's words were extremely hurtful and offensive to people of color, USA Today reports.