CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden used a speech during a recruits' graduation ceremony Friday afternoon to respond to the ongoing controversy involving him and a former chief deputy. McFadden's speech came just one day after WCNC Charlotte published an interview with Kevin Canty, who left and claimed McFadden fostered a toxic work environment and used racially charged language.
McFadden spoke during the graduation ceremony for Platoon 2404 and took aim at critics. The ceremony was streamed to the office's Facebook page.
"My character and my integrity are being criticized. But let me assure you this and you can ask anyone: if you believe I'm racist, you need to talk to me. If you believe I'm racist, you need to talk to the kids who come and see me," he said at the beginning of his speech. "If you believe that I'm racist, talk to the people that know me. Sure, I will lose some of the people who will claim to be my friends or who claim to have my back."
"The reason I cannot be racist," McFadden continued, "because I don't want anybody to go through what I've been through since I've been born into this world as a Black man. Let me say that again: I don't want anybody to go through what I continuously go through even to this second. Even to this second, I would never put that on anyone."
He then took a moment to address the graduates, saying they too would face something similar to him.
"This is what you all are going to face: criticism. Each and every day, criticism by the people that you trust," he said.
The North Carolina Sheriff's Association also responded to the controversy Friday, providing the following statement:
The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association (the Association), representing all 100 sheriffs in our state, is aware of racially charged comments allegedly made by Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden that shock the conscience. The comments made on the recording are inflammatory, racially derogatory, insulting, and offensive.
The Association believes sheriffs are and should continue to be held to the highest standards of professionalism, ethics, principles, and morals and should serve their communities regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex. Racially charged comments certainly do not meet those standards.
The preamble of the Association’s Constitution creates an Association that establishes “bonds of confidence, respect and friendship” among the sheriffs across the State, maintains peace for North Carolina citizens and residents, and seeks to gain the public’s confidence through the “courtesy, honesty, integrity, and dependability of the sheriffs of North Carolina.”
Therefore, pursuant to the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws, the Association’s Executive Committee (governing board) voted unanimously today to inquire further into this matter.
Earlier in November 2024, Kevin Canty's resignation letter was published, offering a blistering review of his nine months at the sheriff's office under McFadden, likening it to a dictatorship. Canty told WCNC Charlotte in an interview this week he saw initial hints something was wrong during his own swearing-in ceremony in February 2024.
"I remember after Garry McFadden introduced me, he began to make disparaging comments to the command staff. 'I know that you all think you are great, but you aren't -- well some of you are'. And that became a common theme," Canty said. "I remember looking at the audience and hoping they think I thought that behavior was inappropriate."
McFadden has refused to discuss the controversy when approached by WCNC Charlotte. On Friday, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office declined to comment on the remarks delivered during the ceremony.