Tibigen Mayor Boris Palmer announced earlier this evening that he intends to “take a break” from his position and “seek expert help”, while also stating that he wishes to resign from the Green Party, following criticism he received for the repeated use of the so-called “n-word”, which was used to describe black people in Germany in the past, with a clear racist mood.

On Friday Mr Palmer clashed with a group of citizens on the sidelines of an immigration conference in Frankfurt over the use of the ‘n-word’.

The crowd started chanting ‘Nazis out!’, to which he replied that ‘because I used the wrong word, I’m a Nazi – like the Star of David’, sparking further backlash, with the local Greens clearly distancing themselves by its featured member.

“We condemn the repeated use of the ‘n-word’ and the unacceptable comparison with the Star of David. We are very sorry that his statements have once again hurt so many people,” the organization wrote in a statement, with an indirect reference to a racist comment that the mayor of Tübingen had posted on Facebook in 2021 about the German-Nigerian soccer player of the German national team, Dennis Aogo, after which started the process of deleting him from the party. The process was completed last year, with Mr Palmer agreeing to voluntarily leave the Greens by the end of 2023. In October 2022, he was re-elected for a third term as mayor, with an absolute majority, as an independent.

Speaking to the German News Agency (dpa), Boris Palmer claimed that his comments in Frankfurt were extremely popular and said that his father had been convicted many times “for calling Nazis Nazis”. He further explained that he uses the “n-word” because he does not accept linguistic rules. The specific word, however, he added, does not belong to his usual vocabulary. “I only use it when the conversation is about whether someone is racist for using it. For me, it’s all about context,” he said.

After the storm of reactions caused by his comments, Boris Palmer today announced his resignation as a member of the Greens of Baden-Württemberg, indicating that he did not want the current debate surrounding him to burden his party, which he wished well success for the future. He also stated that he wants to “take some time and seek expert help.” “I want to try to change, because things like this shouldn’t happen again,” he said, apologizing for comparing the criticism he faced to the Nazis’ use of the Star of David on Jews. “I should never have spoken like that,” he admitted.