The audio recording from October 2021 was first revealed by The Los Angeles Times. Martinez made the disparaging remarks in conversation with city council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León as well as Ron Herrera, who, on Monday, resigned as head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Martinez, who is a Democrat, has apologized to Democratic Councilman Mike Bonin for comments she made on the recording about Bonin, who is white, and his adopted son, who is Black.
In the 2021 audio, Martinez, who is Latina, said Bonin treated his son like an “accessory” and described the latter as “Parece changuito” or “like a monkey.” She also complained that Bonin had failed to control his child on a parade float on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and that the float had nearly tipped over.
“They’re raising him like a little white kid,” Martinez said in the recording. “I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.”
“Bonin thinks he’s f**king Black,” Martinez said.
Martinez also took aim at Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying “he’s with the Blacks.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that Martinez had used language disparaging of Mexicans from Oaxaca while discussing the Koreatown area of Los Angeles, which is a largely Latino neighborhood.
“I see a lot of little short dark people,” Martinez said of Shatto Place and Lafayette Park, located in the area.
“I was like, I don’t know where these people are from, I don’t know what village they came [from], how they got here,” Martinez said and added “Tan feos,” which means: “They’re ugly.”
“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I’m so sorry,” Martinez said in a statement obtained by Newsweek on Monday from director of communications Sophie Gilchrist.
“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 will give me the opportunity to make amends. Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as President of the Los Angeles City Council,” she said.
Martinez continues to represent Los Angeles’ sixth district on the city council. Bonin issued a statement in response to the audio calling for Martinez to resign as president of the council and also from the council itself.
“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.
“The City Council needs to remove her as Council President immediately, and she needs to resign from office,” the statement said.
Newsweek has reached out to Martinez and Bonin for further comment.
