Los Angeles City Council president apologizes over remarks criticized as racist

Two Los Angeles City Council council members are facing growing calls to step down from their posts after City Council President Nury Martinez apologized for her own comments and later resigned after audio leaked of three making racist remarks about Black people and other ethnic groups.

During an October 2021 conversation with a union leader, Nury Martinez and councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León made several controversial and racist remarks across a variety of topics, according to the leaked audio.

Amid a conversation about L.A. District Attorney George Gascón, Martinez can be heard saying, ‘F— that guy, he’s with the Blacks,” while she made another racist remark about the Black son of Mike Bonin, a council member.

“And then there’s this white guy, with his little Black kid, who’s misbehaved,” Martinez can be heard saying before she says the child looks “like a little monkey” in Spanish. “They’re raising him like a little white kid, which, I was like, this kid needs a beatdown.”

The group erupted in laughter at her remarks. Martinez later said, “Bonin thinks he’s f— Black.”

The council members and Ron Herrera, the L.A. Labor Federation president at the meeting, later joked about “little” Oaxacan Koreans, which Martinez referred to as “short, dark people.”

The council members also discussed with Herrera how to favorably redistrict so they can stay in office.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the audio of the conversation, which originally leaked on the social media site Reddit before it was taken down.

Martinez apologized for the comments in a statement to CNN. She later issued a statement resigning from her position.

“In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me and I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that I am sorry,” she said to CNN.

Cedillo also apologized to CNN and said he “should have intervened” when the remarks were made.

In a statement to NBC Los Angeles, de León apologized for the “wholly inappropriate” comments.

“I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. I’ve reached out to that colleague personally,” he said. “On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders — and I will hold myself to a higher standard.”

Protesters demonstrated in Los Angeles on Sunday and reportedly marched toward Martinez’s home, according to videos on Twitter, holding up signs and shouting for the council president to immediately step down and resign.

Bonin released a statement on Sunday calling for Martinez, Herrera and de León to resign their positions.

“We are appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs, and talked about her desire to physically harm him,” Bonin said. “It’s vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful.”

Gascón also said he was “saddened and disappointed” by the revelations in a Sunday tweet.

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) called for Martinez, who is Latino, to resign.

“What we heard transpire during a conversation among our local leaders in the recording released this weekend was appalling, heartbreaking, and simply unacceptable,” NALEO said in a statement. “There is no room for racist language and hateful incendiary rhetoric to coexist with the duties of serving in public office, especially in a place as diverse as the City of Los Angeles.”

Updated at 1:27 p.m.

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