On the evening of Tuesday, December 5, during a city council meeting, Darlington Mayor Curtis Boyd fired back at a local resident (who has only been identified by his first name Calvin) with a strange invitation and an anti-gay slur to follow it up with.
Following an accusation made by Calvin, who announced that Boyd should not be mayor because he allegedly does not live within the city limits, Boyd addressed Calvin directly.
“You’re welcome to leave with me tonight, and if you want, you can sleep in my bed butt naked with me,” Boyd said. “You’re welcome to sleep in the bed with me.”
Where the unusual conjecture seemed to end, Calvin replied, “I’m not gay. I’m not a f*ggot, I’m not a homosexual,” to which Boyd answered, “I’m not a f*ggot, either, but you’re more than welcome to come see where I stay.”
Speaking with WBTW News13 over the phone, Boyd initially insisted he was telling the man identified as Calvin he was not a “bundle of sticks” when asked about using the slur.
“The F word … that you are referring to means a bundle of sticks,” Boyd said. “And he said he was not that, I said I’m not that either. Whatever it is, I looked it up and it means a bundle of sticks. If you look at the dictionary.”
As for Boyd’s ridiculous and offensive choice of reflecting Calvin’s words, according to dictionary.com, Boyd’s definition comes from a word that is spelled differently and is an antiquated term with roots in old English, rarely used in American text or conversation.
Councilwoman Elaine Reed, also in attendance the night of the altercation, said Boyd should have given all the facts in compliance and not made any other comment, further stating that they take residents’ concerns seriously.
“He just should have simply given the facts … that he is in compliance with all of the residency situation,” Reed expressed. “There shouldn’t have been any other comment.”
Speaking with the news department of a Myrtle Beach television station (WMBF), Boyd offered a guarded apology for his words and said he felt attacked in the situation, which led to his reply during the city council meeting.
“I could have probably said something nicer, or different, or in a nicer way. I could have just let him sit down from the beginning,” Boyd said during the conversation with WMBF, which he also recorded and posted on his Facebook page.
He offered the following statement when questioned about what he would say to people who were offended by his use of the word. “Oh, I apologize to anybody at any time if I offended them. If I offend someone, I’m more than glad to tell you I’m sorry. But never do I try to do anything … to be offensive to anybody.
“Do I offend people? All the time, I’m sure I do. I wish I could make everybody happy, but I don’t … if ever I did say anything in my whole life to offend anyone, I don’t like anybody to be upset with me, so, I wasn’t being offensive to anyone, I just repeated back what he said.”
When asked if he had anything else to add, he replied, “That’s it. Just wanna’ tell you Jesus loves you.”