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Council President Martinez on DA Gascón: ‘fukk That Guy…He’s with the Blacks.’
In leaked audio, LA City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, and Kevin de León discuss redistricting, are extremely racist.
Jon Peltz
|October 9, 2022
This is a developing story. It will be updated as appropriate.
Earlier this month, an anonymous Reddit account posted several shocking audio recordings. The recordings seem to contain the voices of Council President Nury Martinez, Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, and LA Labor Federation President Ron Herrera discussing a wide range of topics of great public interest and being incredibly racist while doing so.
The account and those files have since been deleted. Cedillo, Herrera, Martinez, and de León did not respond to requests for comment.
“fukk that guy… he’s with the Blacks”
Video PlayerIn the recording, Council President Nury Martinez says of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, “fukk that guy, he’s with the Blacks.”
“There’s nothing you can do to control him, parece ch****ito.”
Video PlayerMartinez says of the adopted Black son of Councilmember Mike Bonin: “parece ch****ito” (“looks like a little monkey”).
“This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner, I’ll bring him right back.”
Video PlayerMartinez further jokes about wanting to beat the adopted son of Bonin.
“25 Blacks are shouting.”
Video PlayerMartinez, de León, Cedillo, and Herrera discuss Black political power in Los Angeles and what de León terms “the Wizard of Oz effect.”
“The one who will support us is Heather Hutt.”
Video PlayerHerrera tells Martinez, de León, and Cedillo that they must maneuver the appointment of a City Council seat to someone who supports them. After de León rejects his initial suggestion, they seem to agree on Heather Hutt. Following a controversial process, Hutt was appointed the Councilmember for Council District 10 in September of this year.
“You’re saying that’s the one to put in a blender and chop up, right?”
Video PlayerMartinez, Cedillo, and de León come to agree on aggressively gerrymandering Councilmember Nithya Raman’s district.
“Go get the airport from his fukking little brother. That little bytch Bonin.”
Video PlayerMartinez suggests that in redistricting, Councilmember Harris-Dawson should take the airport from Bonin’s district. She questions why Bonin thinks he is Black. Then de León says, “his kid is.”
“I get it. He’s a diva. I understand that.”
Video PlayerCedillo says he’s happy with redistricting map K2.5, and calls speaks of Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell as Martinez’s “guy.” Martinez expresses surprise that Cedillo is not as close with O’Farrell anymore after their “COVID bro-mance,” and calls O’Farrell a “diva.”
“fukk that dude” – Martinez on Councilmember Bob Blumenfield.
Video PlayerRon Hererra tells Cedillo, de León, and Martinez that they are a “little Latino caucus” of their own, and that his only goal is to get the three of them elected. When Herrera says he spoke with CD3 Councilmember Blumenfield, he says he told him he sees all of LA City Council’s seats as Latino. Martinez says “fukk that dude” about Blumenfield.
Update: After publishing, Councilmember Martinez issued a statement to the LA Times, saying that: “In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me. I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that I am sorry.”
De León provided a statement to the LA Timessaying that “he regrets 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 person.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story miscaptioned a statement by Council President Nury Martinez due to the quality of the audio. It has been corrected from “callate ch****to” to “parece ch****to.” We apologize for the error.
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