The Montgomery County township official who sparked outrage with a gesture that looked like a Nazi salute has resigned
Towamencin Township Supervisor Laura Smith posted a now-deleted video in which she hit her chest three times and then extended her arm out in front of her, similar to Elon Musk's gesture last week.
The Montgomery County township official who, in a TikTok video, mimicked Elon Musk with a gesture that looked like a Nazi salute has resigned.
Towamencin Township Supervisor Laura Smith posted a now-deleted video in which she hit her chest three times and then extended her arm out in front of her, similar to the gesture Musk made during President Donald Trump’s inauguration festivities last week.
Smith, a Republican supervisor and vice chair of the board, deleted the video and her TikTok account after outrage toward her grew Friday evening and continued through the weekend. On Saturday, she resigned from the boards of the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library and the nonprofit Knights for Life. Local Democrats said they wanted her to resign from her township position.
Sunday afternoon, township officials published Smith’s letter of resignation on the township’s website and said the rest of the board “intends to accept this resignation at a public meeting as soon as possible.”
“The Board of Supervisors cannot and will not tolerate such conduct,” the post on the township website said.
In the two-paragraph resignation letter the board published, Smith said, “To allow the Township to move forward without the encumbrance of the fallout of my video, I tender my resignation from the Towamencin Township Board of Supervisors effective immediately.”
In her letter, she repeated a statement that she gave to The Inquirer on Saturday in which she said her video has been “greatly mischaracterized” and that she “abhor[s] racism, anti-Semitism, or discrimination in any fashion or form, and my record as a township supervisor attests to my commitment to treat all people with dignity and respect.”
“Not wishing to give offense, I removed the video from my accounts,” she said.
On Sunday, before the township published Smith’s resignation letter, the Philadelphia region’s affiliate of the Anti-Defamation League called the TikTok video “utterly unacceptable.”
“Clearly, this sordid episode does not reflect the values of that community or what anyone would expect from their elected officials,” Andrew Goretsky, ADL Philadelphia regional director, said in a statement to The Inquirer. “Her actions have impacted and caused harm to the community which must be acknowledged.”
In a public statement Sunday, Goretsky said “intentionally mocking constituents' anxieties and concerns by using a gesture similar to a Nazi salute is not only unprofessional but also divisive.”
Smith had said on Facebook that she posted the TikTok video “to stir the pot. Because I can.”
The national Anti-Defamation League defended Musk on Inauguration Day, calling the gesture “awkward.”
Goretsky of the regional affiliate said Smith’s video, “which she admitted was meant ‘to stir the pot,’ demonstrates a concerning lack of judgment” and said the region’s residents should “expect and demand better” from their leaders.
He called Smith’s arm gesture “particularly abhorrent” given that Monday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Having public officials play attention-getting games with such a loaded symbol is utterly unacceptable,” he said, “especially at this time of remembrance and reflection.”