Florida Councilwoman Sues After Suspended Over Racist Tweets

Black America Web

15-07-2025

Source: eyecrave / Getty
In today's episode of If They Have Nothing Else, They Have The Caucasity, a city councilwoman in Florida is suing the city council for anti-bigotry discrimination.
No, that's not the language used in the lawsuit filed by Groveland City Council member Judi Fike — because Liar Liar is only a movie — but that's essentially what Fike is alleging after she was suspended and stripped of her duties pending a full investigation into homophobic and racist tweets she allegedly posted as far as 2015 and as recent as 2022.
According to the Clermont Sun, Fike's suspension came after the Sun published an exclusive investigation revealing dozens of her old tweets, in which she joked about throwing gay people off a roof and showed extreme racial resentment for Black people. The District 4 councilwoman reportedly had to be escorted from a July 7 meeting by police for disrupting proceedings after Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines, who had received printed out copies of Fike's alleged tweets from an anonymous source, gave an impassioned speech about racism and inclusivity.
'Fike's attorney, Anthony Sabatini, filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against the City of Groveland at the Fifth Judicial Court of Lake County on July 9,' the Sun reported. 'In the filing, he is claiming $100,000 plus in damages.'
Last month, Judi Fike issued an apology, claiming she takes 'full responsibility for my past words,' but much of her statement was devoted to defending herself against what she unsurprisingly calls a 'political attack.'
'I've campaigned on inclusiveness, fairness and standing up for Groveland – not tearing others down,' she wrote. 'That's what makes this political attack so disappointing. These tweets didn't suddenly resurface; someone chose to dig them up and distribute them anonymously in an election season, to distract from the real issues.
'I will not let that tactic work,' she continued.
And there it is…
Judi Fike claims she takes 'full responsibility' for her words, saying, 'I regret them deeply, and I sincerely apologize to anyone who was hurt by them.' She even went as far as to declare, 'Personal growth isn't always neat or pretty, but it is necessary.' However, she hasn't grown so much that she's above suing over her suspension, because the exposure of her regretful words is part of a 'political attack.'
That's not 'regret' for what she said; it's regret for getting caught.
In fact, let's take a look at the old tweets she regrets and takes full responsibility for — minus, of course, the ones she claims were 'manipulated.'
From LGBTQ Nation:
Just hours after the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016 in nearby Orlando, Fike posted to Facebook, 'Duh….why would the shooter target a gay club? My answer…Easier than marching them up steps to push off the roof..some sarcasm, some truth…'
In 2015, Fike posted to her 'Widow Fike' account on Twitter (now X), 'Can we divert our attention back to real news? The #LGBT freak show has had its run.'
Fike owns and operates a catering company called The Black Napkin.
Last week, the city council confronted Fike with the posts in an open meeting, displaying screenshots as Fike watched, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Groveland Vice Mayor Barbara Gaines, who is Black, said the posts included 'racist' portrayals of then-President Barack Obama as a monkey.
'This is a picture of President Ronald Reagan babysitting Barack Obama, except it is an ape, a baboon, a monkey or whatever you call it,' Gaines said.
In several tweets shared at the meeting, Fike obsesses over the word 'thug'.
'#thug the new n word,' she posted in 2015. 'Thug life = thug treatment = no pity from me,' she wrote in 2019. In 2022, Fike shared a meme that read, 'What's the magic word to get what you want? Racist!'
Judi Fike essentially claimed that her post about the Pulse nightclub shooting went over the heads of council members, and that her message was about a presidential candidate in 2016 aligning with a community in the Middle East who were 'pushing gay individuals off of buildings.' (So, she wasn't being homophobic; she was being Islamophobic. Got it.)
'It was meant as a support of the community, not against the community,' she said. 'It might have been written in poor taste, but I want to clarify that for you because that was going on at the time.'
Then, predictably, the councilwoman who takes full responsibility for her words — does not take full responsibility for her words.
'Those are indeed manipulated, and so I'll just let that rest,' Fike said during the meeting. 'They are not my words. Some are, there are some copies, but what Barbara just showed were absolutely not products of mine.'
It's unclear exactly which tweets Judi Fike is copping to and which ones she's claiming were 'manipulated,' but the council didn't buy any of it anyway, so she was voted out all the same. Apparently, they didn't believe this so-called victim of a 'political attack' was also the victim of vicious photoshoppers who 'manipulated' images of her being bigoted to supplement the actual images of her being bigoted.
'Words have impact. As elected officials, we are committed to respecting all people in our community by being accountable and inclusive leaders,' Gaines said during the meeting. 'When you make hateful and racist remarks, it only hurts people and fails to align with that commitment.'
Exactly.
SEE ALSO:
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White Florida Man Says He Would Have Shot Black Girl Who Rang His Doorbell
Florida Councilwoman Files Lawsuit After Being Suspended Over Racist And Homophobic Tweets was originally published on newsone.com