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Tony Lepore, a retired Rhode Island police officer best known for dancing while he directs traffic every holiday season, was let go from his specialized position recently. Officials in East Providence decided to not take on his services after he reportedly organized protests against the Black Lives Matter movement.

Lepore, 68, retired from the force in 1984 and has been dancing in downtown Providence for 30 years delighting crowds with his dance moves while directing traffic. Lepore had become a bit of a viral sensation by why of his antics in the middle of the road. However, Lepore’s disdain of the Black Lives Matter movement culminated in him organizing a protest against the group at a local Dunkin Donuts.

More from Reuters:

But Lepore became the subject of controversy after he organized October protests outside a Dunkin’ Donuts where an employee wrote “Black Lives Matter” on a coffee cup before handing it to an officer. Lepore called for the employee to be fired.

“With the controversy, it was decided this would not be beneficial to anyone,” Timothy Conley, one of East Providence’s five council members, said on Tuesday.

Lepore had previously been turned down for a traffic-directing job by the police department in neighboring Providence.

That city’s police commissioner, Steven Pare, said Lepore gave an inaccurate impression that his position on the incident represented that of the city’s police.

The Black Lives Matter movement, which has revived a heated debate on race and justice in the US, grew out of protests that followed the police killings of black men in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, New York and Baltimore over the past year and a half.

East Providence officials began to back away from a plan to take Lepore on after a group of protesters supporting Black Lives Matter rallied outside the city’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony Sunday night.

“He’s no longer about dancing,’ said Onna Moniz-John, one of the protest organizers. “He’s become too associated with negativity and controversy. He’s almost a poster child.”

Lepore said he is examining a possible lawsuit against the city of Providence and the Black Lives Matter movement for disrupting the tradition and causing him to not earn enough to “survive” in his words.

Photo: screen cap/YouTube