Rhode Island state Representative Michael Chippendale (R-Foster) has apologized for calling a survivor of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting a “dummy.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Chippendale said it was inappropriate to refer to Emma Gonzalez that way.
Chippendale says he’s sorry he used a tweet earlier this week to make the remark. The tweet followed Gonzalez’s reaction to a shooting at a Waffle House restaurant in Nashville that left four people dead.
Chippendale said he will never apologize for zealously defending the Second Amendment.
Meanwhile, independent gubernatorial candidate Joe Trillo criticized GOP rival Allan Fung for calling for Chippendale to apologize.
“I can let Governor Gina Raimondo off the hook because she plays to her progressive base, but I cannot remain silent about Allan Fung, joining her against one of his own campaign chairmen and telling him he should apologize,” Trillo said in a statement. “While I think his use of words could have perhaps been better chosen, I don’t support just stepping in line with the progressives and the politically correct mantra.”
The Fung campaign declined to respond to Trillo.
On Monday, Fung campaign spokesman Andrew Augustus said Fung asked Chippendale to apologize for calling Gonzalez a dummy.
“We have talked with Representative Chippendale, and expressed our disappointment in his choice of words,” Augustus said. “As the governor knows from regrettable social media posts by members of her own executive staff, social media presents a whole host of challenges. We hope he will chose is words better in the future.”
This post has been updated.
