MASSENA -- After an uproar on social media, the town supervisor says that a Facebook post where he took aim at NFL athletes protesting during the National Anthem is not racist.

On Monday at 1:42 a.m., a Facebook page called The Massena News posted a screenshot and link to Supervisor Joseph Gray’s post where he shared an article titled “About 2 dozen NFL players protested during anthems Sunday” with a comment “Looks like black privilege to me…. Remember these names.” The post, which was posted to Gray’s Facebook page but not his campaign page, appears to have since been deleted.

Facebook users as of 1 p.m. Wednesday had shared the post 18 times, some of whom described Gray’s words as racist, while others came to his defense.

“Nearly everything he posts is racist,” Facebook user Taneal Emily wrote in a comment thread discussing the post.

“This country is bad enough without you publishing this article. You (Massena News) are spreading the hatred. Shame on you. Find news worth writing,” Facebook user Cindy Taylor Finn wrote in a comment defending the town supervisor.

Gray believes the Massena News post was made to discredit him.

“It’s ridiculous. Obviously Mr. Lucio, who posted this, lives in Cornwall and used to have a paper in Massena that didn’t succeed, this is a political effort on his part to kind of discredit me,” Gray said. He is referring to John Lucio, who used to publish the now-defunct Massena News, but continues to run its Facebook page. “This is a personal issue that I made a comment about that people are trying to exploit politically.”

When asked to define the term “black privilege,” Gray said “these folks happen to be black and they’re living a very privileged life. I believe this is being overblown by a number of people … Do they clean their own houses? Do they drive their own cars?”

“I would point out that we have a whole bunch of players in the NFL who by virtue of their athletic ability have attended college at no charge an get paid to play a game for millions of dollars per year,” he said.

The NFL players have been protesting during the National Anthem since last season when former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first sat, and later knelt during the song while it was playing. Dozens of players took up the protest this season, as Kaepernick remains an unsigned free agent.

Supporters say the athletes are protesting police brutality and racial injustice in the United States. Opponents say the protesters are being disrespectful to the flag, which Gray says he agrees with, and the military.

“It’s disrespectful to our country and the flag,” Gray said. “Because they’re protesting, apparently an issue that is not related to either, I guess for folks who are multi-millionaires to say they are oppressed and not treated properly seems odd to me.”

Gray says he is entitled to speak his mind and the current national political climate is stifling speech.

“I am a strongly opinionated conservative living in the North Country. That doesn’t make me a racist, as much people want to paint me as that. There are institutions and people that don’t believe differing viewpoints from their own should be heard, and that is unfortunate. My education is in liberal arts and liberal thought. And that meant that everyone was entitled to an opinion. That opinions can’t be wrong, and much of the discourse today doesn’t allow for that, and our society is the worst because of it,” he said.

Gray says he defines racism as “When you discriminate someone based on their race, which I don’t do, and the people I associate with don’t do, and the people I come into contact with in the North Country don’t do either,” he said.

“Are there racists in the world? Of course there are. Am I one? I don’t believe I am, and I don’t think anybody can show me any proof of that,” the supervisor said.