Alabama newspaper editor won’t apologize for writing editorial saying KKK should ‘ride again’

An Alabama newspaper editor who wrote an editorial urging the return of the Ku Klux Klan to “clean out” Washington said Thursday that he won’t apologize and “would do it all over again.”

Goodloe Sutton, the publisher of the Democrat-Reporter in Linden, Ala., said the an editorial calling for the KKK to “ride again” to block tax increases has given him a boost.

“It got me about $10 million in free publicity. I know I would do it all over again,” Sutton told AL.com.

{mosads}Sutton has faced massive backlash for the Feb. 14 editorial, which urged the Klan to “go up there and clean out D.C.”

Alabama Sen. Doug Jones (D) and Rep. Terri Sewell (D) called for his resignation. He was also stripped of journalism honors from the University of Southern Mississippi and was censured by the Alabama Press Association.

“The Democrats have been terrible,” Sutton said of the responses to his editorial. “The KKK are the nicest.”

The 80-year-old editor and publisher of the local newspaper told AL.com that many people missed the point of his column.

“The point of the editorial was ironic in that all these years, the FBI and the Department of Justice have been investigating the Klan and now, that shoe is on the other foot,” Sutton said. “[The FBI and Justice Department] are doing wrong and the Klan needs to investigate them. That’s what the point of it was. Not a lot of people understand irony today.”

Sutton reportedly welcomed feedback in the form of letters or phone calls regarding his editorial and printed their messages in this week’s Democrat-Reporter.

“Response: Love editorials,” the front page reads.

“God bless Sutton,” another headline reads. “Great article, it’s true.”

Sutton told the outlet that he wasn’t concerned if he offended anyone.

“Hell, that’s what we’re supposed to do,” he said. If “liberals” are angered by his words, they can leave the U.S., he added.

“It’s not their country. It’s our country and if they don’t like it, they can go to hell,” he told AL.com

Sutton is in the process of selling the Democrat-Reporter, which has a reported circulation of around 3,000. His family has operated it since 1917.