Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León told CBS Los Angeles on Wednesday that he has no plans to resign after a leaked audio recording captured him, Councilmember Gil Cedillo, Council President Nury Martinez, and L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera making racist comments in October 2021.
De León described the situation as “the biggest [challenge] I’ve ever confronted in my life” in the exclusive interview with CBS Los Angeles political reporter Tom Wait.
“I accept my responsibility for a lot of that pain that exists today,” he said, adding that he’s reached out to various city leaders, organizations and his constituents to have “hard conversations.”
“I have to do the hard work. I have to repair. I have to help heal. I have to help restore,” the councilman said.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
In the recording, Martinez was heard referring to Councilman Mike Bonin’s 2-year-old son, who is Black, as a “Parece changuito,” which means “that little monkey,” when translated from Spanish to English. De León responded by comparing the toddler to one of Martinez’s handbags, which he called a “flippant remark.”
During a speech at a City Council meeting shortly after the recording’s release, Bonin teared up, saying, “People should not ask me for forgiveness. I can’t forgive them because it’s not my prerogative. It’s the prerogative of a boy who is too young to really understand what’s going on.”
Martinez and Herrera have since resigned. Cedillo is due to step down from his seat in November, after losing to Eunisses Hernandez in the July race for the District 1 seat.
Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
When asked why he did not do more to intervene during the racist conversation, de León told Wait: “I failed in my leadership.”
But he said he won’t leave his position because he wants to continue to advocate for his district, which has historically been “underrepresented” and “has gone through much difficulty in the past without real political representation.”
De León claimed to have apologized “profusely” to Bonin and his family in a voicemail, and said he has not spoken to Martinez, Herrera, or Cedillo since the audio leaked.
In a statement posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Bonin called de León’s interview “gaslighting of the highest order,” and said the comments about his son were “cruel” and “dehumanizing.”
“He says he should have ‘intervened,’ as if he were a mere bystander to a racist conversation in which he played a central and ignominious role,” Bonin said. “He cannot be part of the healing as long as he refuses to resign. His stubborn refusal to do what everyone else knows is necessary is deepening the wound he has inflicted on Los Angeles.”
Ringo Chiu / AP
Many in the Los Angeles community were similarly outraged by the contents of the audio recording. According to CBS Los Angeles, protestors calling for de León’s resignation were gathered outside of his Eagle Rock home for four days before being moved.
After a Tuesday City Council meeting was held virtually due to COVID-19 concerns, protestors at Los Angeles City Hall clashed with police who were attempting to close the building. Neither de León nor Cedillo were in attendance.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and even President Biden have called for all involved in the scandal to resign.
