BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Carl Paladino is under fire by area leaders for "hateful remarks" he made in an email on Wednesday.
The e-mail, released with the subject line "19 Pictures from Hell (Formerly Called Paris, The Capital of France)", features words remarking about how muslims have overtaken France. Assemblyman Sean Ryan, Buffalo NAACP President Mark Blue, WNY Muslims President Faizan Haq, Rev. Kirk Laubenstein of Coalition for Economic Justice, Erie County Legislator April Baskin, are among those who publicly criticized Paladino.
"(The article) is truth," Paladino said. "I had been to France and had seen exactly what the article had said about muslim population overrunning Paris, France, as it has many European city. I reprinted something without comment."
Paladino told WBEN that Ryan is trying to divert attention for voting in favor of an abortion bill. He also called the others at Ryan's side this morning "zealots" who have nothing else to do than criticize people for having an opinion.
"It's time to ask, why do we continue to give Carl Paladino and his Ellicott Development company a seat at Buffalo's leadership table?" Ryan asked.
Paladino is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Ellicott Development.
"They have no right to try and judge me," Paladino said.
The e-mail contains the following:
"ANYONE DUMB ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THE PARIS RIOTS ARE ONLY ABOUT TAXES AND THE CLIMATE? TAKE A DEEP BREATH AND LEARN. France is being destroyed, as reported by neutral Czech Tourists in 2018 and still getting worse. The overwhelming abuse of the indigenous culture. Shame on those who welcomed such foreseeable destruction. We went there not so long ago, just go for the weekend. We bribed the price of tickets, unusually low, but we were not in Paris for more than 10 years. We decided to refresh impressions, again inhale the French romance. The fact that the lowest price for Air France had alerted us, but nothing like this. The flight was fine, then we boarded a train that took us to the center, and it was there that we experienced the first shock: not only was the Northern station all littered with debris, there was not a white Frenchman! It shocked us to the core.
Furthermore, we hastily settled near the Sacr Coeur, where the situation seems to have been even worse. When we went down into the subway to get to major attractions, then suddenly we found out that in the car my wife and I - only white. It was Friday, about two o'clock in the afternoon! At the Louvre, which is always full of onlookers and tourists, is now deserted, but around armed to the teeth with patrols. These people look at you with suspicion and do not remove their finger from the trigger. And this is not ordinary police, but real soldiers in full dress! As it turned out, in Paris for almost a year living in a state of emergency.
On the streets of migrants crowd, full of shops, whose owners are refugees. Where did so many of them come from? At the Eiffel Tower - one. Check out all but covered from head to toe Muslim. This selectivity of the French. Landmarks around the tower teeming with hucksters of the African, Arab gambler, beggars from all over the world and pickpockets. It was a terrifying experience. I can imagine what's going on in Marseille and Calais where migrants already de facto set their own rules. In France, a civil war is brewing, that's what I say. Therefore, I recommend not to go there - Farewell, beloved France! God forbid that we had something like this in the Czech Republic! PITIFUL..... IS AMERICA NEXT ? PLEASE FORWARD."
The e-mail also features several photos ranging from the Paris skyline to people living in tents and a man urinating in a New York City subway.
Paladino said he feels he's doing a service to the community by forwarding the contents of the e-mail and he said he doesn't feel the need to add his own personal comments to the story because he knows what he is sending out is truth.
