‘Monkeys at the Circus’: Ex-Florida County Commissioner Under Fire for Sending Disturbing Racist Texts to Other County Officials That Targeted Black People

A former Florida county commissioner is catching heat from the community he’s hoping will re-elect him after a set of disturbing racist messages he sent to other county officials became public.

Ex-Walton County Commissioner Trey Nick sent those messages in a group chat to a former assistant county attorney and a man who serves as a current county commissioner during a business trip, WMBB reported.

In that chat, Nick sent one message to the officials that read, “plenty of N-words out this evening” followed by a snapshot of a scene from the movie “Friday” showing Ice Cube and Chris Tucker in a car. He calls the rapper and actor “monkeys at the circus” in that same thread, according to the local outlet .

Several public records requests filed by county residents led to the release of the texts, leading to a wave of public backlash against Nick.

Earlier this month, many citizens showed up at the county board meeting to vocalize their frustration with the county’s elect over the messages.

“It’s disturbing. We’re all adults. This is not 1860 or 1850. This is 2024 and it’s about time we grow up as individuals and human beings and start showing some respect for each other,” local NAACP President Frank Guillory said.

“Silence is acceptance, and when we hear silence, we hear acceptance. I’m standing before you not being silent that I don’t accept it, I don’t appreciate it, it’s unwarranted and unjust,” resident Todd Roark stated.

Commissioners at the meeting denounced the texts and Nick’s conduct.

“We apologize for that, I apologize for that, and you’re right, the county does not condone this type of behavior,” District 4 Commissioner Donna Johns said.

“The people that played into that, which was wrong, are not here as part of this board and should not be allowed to be on this board, and I’ll leave that at that,” District 1 Commissioner William ‘Boots’ Johns added.

Nick was the county’s District 4 commissioner when he sent the texts. He served in the position until 2022.

During his time on the job, he was embroiled in a number of legal battles and controversies, including a sexual harassment lawsuit and a bombshell investigation that revealed he and other commissioners misused taxpayer money.

In October 2022, the same attorney he sent the racist texts to named him as a defendant in a lawsuit that alleged that the commissioner board he sat on fostered an “arrogant, above-the-law, callous, good-ole-boys” environment. She alleged the board fired her to retaliate against her rejection of one commissioner’s romantic advances.

Earlier that year, an internal Walton County audit revealed that Nick and the other five members of the commissioner board violated the county’s credit card and travel policies dozens of times.

Nick, in particular, used taxpayer funds to pay for expensive lodgings and flights during several business trips between 2018 and 2022. He also failed to disclose those expenses and justify their necessity to the county. Auditors reported that some of those purchases even broke state law.

Nick never reportedly faced charges or penalties from the county after those findings were revealed but was part of a process to make several revisions to the policies that were breached.

He is now running for the District 1 commissioner’s seat in Walton County. The election takes place on Nov. 5.

‘Monkeys at the Circus’: Ex-Florida County Commissioner Under Fire for Sending Disturbing Racist Texts to Other County Officials That Targeted Black People