At least fifty people demonstrated outside the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts on Wednesday, demanding Carl Paladino's removal from the Buffalo Public School Board.
Protesters held signs and chanted ahead of the Board meeting. Their demands are in response to Paladino's reaction to the lewd remarks Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump made on a video recording in 2005 that surfaced last week.
"Men talk about those things all the time, especially in the locker rooms," Paladino said.
Paladino stands by his comments. Tells me the comments were not made as a representative of the board and it's his opinion. @WKBW
— Hannah Buehler (@HannahBuehler) October 12, 2016
"To take it out of context and accuse him of being some kind of sexual predator is absolutely out of place."
The Washington Post reported Paladino called Trump's comments "gutter talk" and something "all men do, at least all normal men."
"I'd like to think that I'm a normal guy and I certainly don't do that and I don't want any other normal guys to do that or to talk about it or to brag about it," demonstrator Drew Lugwig told 7 Eyewitness News.
Meantime, a change.org petition calling for Paladino's removal has received more than 2,400 signatures.
Paladino says the protest and petition are part of a political agenda to get him off the Board.
"I merely talked about his words and where they came from, and in our culture, men and women tend to talk about their sexual exploits," he said.
Paladino says the petition holds little weight, because the only person who can oust him from the Buffalo School Board is State Education Commissioner Mary Ellen Elia, and he says he doesn't see that happening.
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