In Response To Post On Facebook, Governor Mapp Says ‘Go ‘$&#K’ Yourself’

ST. CROIX — Governor Kenneth Mapp unleashed an expletive on Facebook earlier this week, responding to a post by Herbert L. Schoenbohm, a staunch Republican and frequent poster on Facebook, who has criticized Mr. Mapp’s performance.

The governor has not been shy to take on detractors on the world’s largest social media platform; in February, Mr. Mapp got roasted on Facebook after he responded to a post in which residents questioned his choice of hotel and vehicles.

But Tuesday’s response to Mr. Schoenbohm, who has served in leading positions in the local Republican Party, was the coarsest yet, stunning a number of residents who thought such vulgarity was beneath the governorship.

Mr. Mapp was responding to a Facebook post made by Mr. Schoenbohm questioning the choice of water that Government House uses. Mr. Schoebohm argued that the governor should send truckloads of Le Bleu water, which he considered to be premium, to local housing communities, where he said some residents were boiling cistern water or “brown WAPA coocoo water” to drink. Then he wrote, ‘Nope…only the best for the governor while the rest of us suck salt.”

The comment from Mr. Schoenbohm, a regular poster on Facebook, appeared to be his regular dissent against the Mapp administration. But the governor’s response took many by surprise, letting loose not only the expletive, but also taking a hard shot at Mr. Schoenbohm by calling him a “blazing idiot.”

“Le bleu water is bottled on st. Thomas. Herb, go $&#k yourself. I’ve been front and center from two days before Irma and have not stopped since and you complaining about water. Buy some and support the locals you blazing idiot,” the governor wrote.

While many saw the governor’s response as funny, others were appalled.

“Please tell me that this is NOT the governor talking. I hope and pray that his page is managed by staff. While I may disagree with plenty with this administration the office I respect. I saw this on another page and had to go to the original post. This cannot be the new way of doing things where we have leaders using such language,” wrote Cathalina John-Baptiste.

The comment, which the governor posted on Tuesday, came three days following Mr. Schoenbolm’s post, and the same day Mr. Mapp left the territory for the U.S. mainland. And it was the first time in Virgin Islands history that a sitting governor had responded with an expletive on social media to detractors.

Once Mr. Mapp’s comment was posted, it was shared and copied on multiple local social media pages in viral fashion. The governor came into office in the golden age of social media, which has grown into a powerful informational tool. Mr. Mapp’s Facebook posts have been compared to President Donald Trump’s tweets, although Mr. Mapp’s posts are much less than Mr. Trump’s almost daily messages.