Dearborn Mayor Condemns City Employee's Bigoted Facebook Remark

DEARBORN, MI— Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr. spoke out Monday saying he "strongly condemns" an offensive remark made in a public Facebook comment about a model wearing a burkini on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Detroit news station WXYZ's Facebook page posted the Sports Illustrated story and the part-time employee commented that the model better belonged on "Camels are us."

TCD, a Dearborn-based social media site, identified the man as Bill Larion.

Dearborn officials said Monday that they directed multiple city departments to "immediately investigate the source of the remark."

According to the City of Dearborn, the Dearborn Police Department began over an investigation into the comment over the weekend. O'Reilly said this will determine the official action the city takes.

The comment was not posted during business hours for the City of Dearborn, but O'Reilly said Monday that its content is in opposition to the city’s mission statement.

“I have zero tolerance for the type of language used in the Facebook comment,” O’Reilly said. “The comment violates the City of Dearborn’s values and practices, as well as our expectations for employees. It violates the very heart of our mission statement, which is that we must earn the public’s trust in everything we do,."

The City of Dearborn provides employee training addressing discrimination, sexual harassment and cultural sensitivity, officials said in a statement Monday, adding that the city requires that all employees treat people of all backgrounds with respect.

"That expectation carries over into employees’ behavior off hours, when, under certain situations, their actions can be considered a reflection on the City of Dearborn," the statement read.

O'Reilly said that Dearborn is "extremely proud of our diversity and consider it a strength and an advantage."

"So we will continue to nurture it and to condemn words or actions that attempt to divide us,” he added.

The offensive comment being investigated was posted in reaction to a news story about a Muslim woman appearing in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in a traditionally modest bathing suit called a "burkini." Dearborn is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States.