Los Angeles City Councilor Nury Martinez stepped down as the council’s president on Oct. 10 after audio recordings of her and two other councilors’ “racist” remarks surfaced the day before, with a wave of politicians—including Mayor Eric Garcetti—calling for them to resign from the council altogether.
After the audio was leaked, a slew of California officials and political candidates, as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom, came forward to condemn her comments. The incident comes just a month away from the Nov. 8 general election.
The recording, dated October 2021—published by a now-suspended Reddit user and first reported by the Los Angeles Times—included Councilmen Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.
In the recording, Martinez, 49, spoke about Councilman Mike Bonin’s black son as “Parece changuito”—which is translated to “like a little monkey”—while recalling seeing Bonin’s son on a float during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, where she said the child was like “an accessory.”
De León chimed in and said Bonin treats his child the same way as “when Nury brings her Goyard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag.”
Martinez appeared to suggest Bonin’s son was misbehaving on the float, and if she and another woman didn’t step in to “parent his kid” the float may have tumbled over.
“They’re raising him like a little white kid,” Martinez was heard saying. “I was like, ‘this kid needs a beatdown,’ let me take him around the corner, and then I’ll bring him back.”
During the conversation, Martinez used multiple slurs in Spanish to describe Bonin’s son.
While referencing Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, Martinez said “[Expletive] that guy, he’s with the blacks.” The conversation, which the officials did not know was being recorded, also included Martinez making disparaging comments about Oaxacans, a particular tribe from Mexico.
At one point in the conversation, de León could be heard saying “Mike Bonin won’t [expletive] ever say peep about Latinos, he’ll never say a [expletive] word about us.”
The group also spoke of Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas’s suspension amid an indictment on federal corruption charges, and Martinez said Controller Ron Galperin would decide whether Ridley-Thomas still gets paid.
“You need to go talk to that white guy,” she said. “It’s not us. It’s the white members on this Council that will [expletive] you in a heartbeat.”
The officials further discussed the city’s redrawn council district process, which was happening during the time of the conversation. The group discussed the need to keep Latino councilors so that those districts would not lose important financial assets, such as the Van Nuys Airport and the University of Southern California.
Martinez Apologizes
“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I am so sorry,” Martinez said in a statement Oct. 10.Martinez said moving forward, reconciliation will be her priority and that she has already reached out to her black colleagues to express her regret.
“I ask for forgiveness from my colleagues and from the residents of this city that I love so much. In the end, it is not my apologies that matter most; it will be the actions I take from this day forward. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends,” Martinz’s statement read. “Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council.”
On Oct. 9, Bonin and his husband released a statement via Twitter calling for the council to remove Martinez as president and for her and de León to resign their seats entirely.
“We love our son, a beautiful, joyful child, and our family is hurting today,” the statement continued. “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. We are equally angry and disgusted by the ugly racist comments about our son from Kevin de León and Ron Herrera, who should also resign their posts, and by the tacit acceptance of those remarks from Gil Cedillo. It hurts that one of our son’s earliest encounters with overt racism comes from some of the most powerful public officials in Los Angeles.”
Herrera, Cedillo, and de León also issued statements apologizing for the incident.
“There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate, and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private,'‘ De León said. ”On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders—and I will hold myself to a higher standard.’’
Herrera said, “I apologize to all of you, Mike Bonin and his family, the affiliates and community members, specifically those in the Black and Oaxacan community. There is no justification and no excuse for the vile remarks made in that room. Period.'’
Leaders Condemn Leaked Comments
By the end of the day on Oct. 9, several local officials chimed in to condemn the remarks. About a dozen more poured in on Oct. 10.“Bigotry, violence, and division too often live in unseen and unheard places, but have severe consequences on the lives of our fellow Angelenos when they are not confronted and left to infect our public and private lives,” Garcetti said. “Stepping down from the council would be the right response by these members in a moment that demands accountability and healing at a time of great pain and deep disappointment.”
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Michel Moore wrote on Twitter that “[the] revelation of the remarks by our members of our council leaders hurts me to my core.”
“This is not the Los Angeles I know or reflective of the beliefs of the women & men of LAPD. Such remarks are unacceptable in any setting. A dark day for our City of Angels,” Moore said.
LA Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso said the comments were “racist and deeply offensive.”
“My heart goes out to Councilman Bonin and his family. Now, strong action must be taken,” Caruso said in a statement, calling on all three counselors to resign.
Mayoral candidate Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) issued a statement Oct. 9 calling the content on the tapes “appalling, anti-Black racism.”
“I have devoted my life to bringing people together to move us forward. For more than 30 years, I have built alliances between Los Angeles’ Black and Latino communities to increase our neighborhoods; health, safety and prosperity,” Bass said.
Newsom also condemned the remarks but didn’t call for resignation. He said in a statement he’s “encouraged that those involved in this have apologized and begun to take responsibility for their actions.”
“Words matter, and racist language can do real harm. These comments have no place in our state, or in our politics, and we must all model better behavior to live the values that so many of us fight every day to protect,” the governor wrote on Twitter Oct. 9.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn wrote on Twitter Oct. 9 that now that Martinez has resigned, it would be “appropriate for Councilman Mike Bonin to become President until a new council is seated.”
Currently, it is unclear who recorded the conversation and who leaked it on Reddit. This is a developing story.
Since 2013, Martinez served on the LA City Council and represented the 6th District in the San Fernando Valley. Six years later, she became the first Latina to become president of the City Council when she was elected in 2019, replacing long-time President Herb Wesson.
