UPDATE: Taylor Responds To Cherry Blossom Festival Incident

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UPDATE 4/9/15 at 3:03 p.m.: Rosemary Taylor has provided a statement to the Brookhaven Post in response to comments she made to a photographer at the city’s Cherry Blossom Festival:

Let me say this clearly – racism had absolutely nothing to do with my interactions with the photographer and his hired models at the recent Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival. It all had to do with a lack of professionalism on behalf of the photographer, a conflict of interest, misuse of city funds and money spent unnecessarily.

The photographer, Nelson Jones, was hired in advance of me coming to the city. The tourism manager told me Mr. Jones was a “political hire” and that he had been paid in advance for all three days of the festival plus a precluding kick-off party.

I thought the advance payment was unusual and when I asked for specifics on the “political hire” the tourism manager simply said that the mayor and council knew him. He later said he had worked with the photographer at a motel chain when he worked in that industry.

Taylor’s complete comments can be viewed at Brookhaven Post’s website.

ORIGINAL STORY

Brookhaven is looking for a new communications director after firing the incumbent for offensive remarks she made at a recent festival.

According to WSB-TV, Rosemary Taylor told a photographer at the city’s recent Cherry Blossom Festival that a pair of models he had brought with him were “not the type of people the city of Brokhaven want representing them.”

The models were almost immediately asked to leave the festival by another official. Taylor was relieved of duty after the incident, WSB-TV learned. She had been on the job for less than a month.

The two models were black and Asian, and photographer Nelson Jones told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he and the two women were offended by Taylor’s remarks.

“We were all stunned,” he told the newspaper. “It was definitely racial.”

Prior to taking the job in Brookhaven, Taylor served in the same capacity in Johns Creek before resigning from the position in January, the Johns Creek Post reported.

Brookhaven is now looking for a new communications director.