WATCH: City Holds First Council Meeting Since GOP Councilman Blurted Out N-Word at LAST Meeting

The Tarrant, Alabama City Council held its first meeting since the incident in which Republican Tommy Bryant blurted a racial slur in the direction of Councilmember Veronica Freeman — and Bryant was at the latest meeting.

Earlier this week, Bryant tried to defend his wife from accusations she used the n-word on Facebook by springing up and said, “Do we have a house n***er in here?”, pointing at Ms. Freeman and claiming that Mayor Wayman Newton — who is Black — had used the epithet against Freeman in a private session. Freeman broke down and cried for the remainder of the meeting.

That moment went viral, and sparked calls for Bryant’s resignation. Adding to those calls was a group of activists from organizations like Alabama’s Black Voters Matter chapter and Birmingham’s Black Lives Matter, who rallied at City Hall Thursday.

Also Thursday, Mayor Newton denied that he had called Councilor Freeman a “house [n-word]” during an executive session, telling WVTM that while he and Freeman have had a “tense” relationship since he took office 8 months ago, he said “I did not call her that.”

Asked if he thinks Bryant is a racist, Mayor Newton parodied Bryant’s response to a similar question in an interview following the incident.

“Of course,” Newton said, then added “Well, depends on your definition of racist. By most people’s definition, he is a racist, but in his mind, he’s not.”

But Councilor Freeman was not in attendance at an emergency city council meeting Thursday night, which was called in order to consider a liquor license application.

Bryant did show up, and the council approved the license.

Watch above via Tarrant City Council.