Sag Harbor Village Mayor Thomas Gardella is in hot water over a social media comment some say was insensitive to the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
At the village board's monthly meeting on Tuesday night, Ed Haye, the deputy mayor, announced that the village will launch an investigation into the mayor's comments.
Rebecca Chavez, who has an Instagram account out of Texas, on Monday reported the comments linked to the mayor's private Instagram account. Ms. Chavez posted a reel with a her wife, Deanna, who has short hair, dancing in the background. In the comments, it appears that Mr. Gardella commented from his private account, "What is that thing in the background? A guy or girl? Some creature?"
Ms. Chavez, who is an animal rights activist, then posted a new video in which she calls out the mayor's comments and traces it back to Mr. Gardella. His comments were then sent out to all the email addresses listed on the Sag Harbor Village website. "Oh, Tom, you should know better," a caption across the video reads.
In response, the mayor appears to comment again, saying, "I was referring to what I think is a white dog! I only get a glimpse of him, or her, in the video. I can clearly see the person dancing! You shouldn't make assumptions." A dog does appear in the video briefly.
Over 60 people in the comments responded back, calling that a poor attempt to cover up homophobia. The mayor responded: "I apologize if my comments offended any person. It was not my intention. I would also like to apologize to the post creator."
Thousands of people have viewed the post and hundreds have commented.
The mayor followed up at the village's meeting this week. "I want to apologize," he said. "No one is above reproach, especially the mayor." He added that he has many friends in the L.G.B.T.Q. community. His Instagram account has since been set to private.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, the mayor said, "I meant what I said," regarding his apology at the public hearing. He declined to comment further.
This is not the first time the mayor has come under fire for public-facing comments from his private social media. In May, a Sag Harbor artist said the mayor had posted comments about the federal government's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. According to a letter to the media, the comment said, "To all the people complaining about Doge! . . . FUCK YOU."
As for the investigation, Bob Plumb, a board member, said Wednesday that the village's outside counsel, Vincent Toomey, is looking into whether the comment violated any of the board's codes of conduct, which, he noted, extend to social media. If it is found that the mayor violated any such code, the board could vote to censure him.
Mr. Plumb said he is awaiting the results of the investigation. "I would hope to be able to continue to work with the mayor," he said.
