ROXBORO, N.C. (WNCN) – The editor/publisher of The Roxboro Courier-Times resigned Tuesday, one day after apologizing for running an editorial cartoon in the newspaper that many deemed racist.

The announcement was made on the newspaper’s Facebook page. It said simply, “Editor/publisher Johnny Whitfield of The Courier-Times to resign immediately over controversial cartoon.”

Whitfield and the paper were under fire after running an editorial cartoon that depicted a black man stealing a white woman’s purse. The woman was asking for someone to call 911 and the man replied with a comment about defunding the police.

Whitfield wrote on Monday that his judgment “fell short.”

“I should have seen beyond the printed words in the editorial cartoon and considered the racial message that cartoon sent. I did not and I am sorry,” he wrote.

Whitfield also wrote that the paper cut ties with the cartoonist who made the comic.

“Beyond that, I bear responsibility for having selected the cartoon for publication,” Whitfield wrote.

The comic had garnered attention locally and on a larger scale on social media since its June 11 publication.