Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez announced she would resign her leadership position after an audio clip of her making racist comments circulated online (Picture: Getty Images)
The president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned after an audio recording of her making racist comments about another council member’s son leaked.
City Councilmember Nury Martinez stepped down from her post as president on Monday after the audio recording was published by the Los Angeles Times the night before. It was not clear whether Martinez would also resign from her seat on the council.
The recording was from an October 2021 meeting between Martinez, City Councilmember Kevin de Leon, City Councilmember Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.
In the recording, Martinez said City Councilmember Mike Bonin a ‘little b***h’ and said the legislator ‘think’s he’s f**king black.’
Martinez criticized the son of her colleague, Councilmember Mike Bonin (Picture: AP)
Another unidentified speaker mentions that Bonin isn’t black, but his son is.
‘Lo trae así (he brings it) during black history month, lo llevó al (he took him to) council,’ Martinez clearly says in a blend of English and Spanish. ‘It’s like an accessory,’ she says.
Councilmember de Leon then joins in, seemingly comparing Bonin’s son to designer handbags: ‘When Nury brings her Goyard bag or her Louis Vuitton bag, el trae su (he brings his) accessory.’
Martinez then criticizes Bonin’s son’s behavior on a float in a Martin Luther King Day Parade, saying he was ‘bouncing off the walls’ and ‘there’s nothing you can do to control him, parece changuito (like a monkey)’.
‘They’re raising him like a little white kid, which I was like, this kid needs a beat down,’ Martinez continues. ‘Like let me take him around the corner then I’ll bring him back.’
In another comment, Martinez seems to denigrate Mexican immigrants from Oaxaca in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood, who she calls ‘little short dark people’ and ‘tan feos (so ugly)’.
Martinez issued an apology for what she called ‘a moment of intense frustration and anger’ on Monday.
‘In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward,’ she stated. ‘I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends.’
Bonin issued a statement calling on Martinez, de Leon, and Herrera to resign. He also condemned Cedillo, who was also in the meeting but did not join in the conversation.
Bonin said he was ‘appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted’ at Martinez’s remarks.
‘We love our son, a beautiful, joyful child, and our family is hurting today,’ he said. ‘No child should ever be subjected to such racist, mean and dehumanizing comments, especially from a public official. It is painful to know he will someday read these comments.’
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The councilmember also made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants.