By STEFANIE DAZIO and BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The head of the Los Angeles City Council stepped up pressure Monday on two members to resign over their participation in a private meeting in which they did not object to a colleague’s crude and racist comments and at times They joined in the jokes. .
Acting council chairman Mitch O’Farrell said he will strip Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León of committee assignments and chairs as pressure mounts on veteran Democratic politicians.
“These members have lost all credibility, all standing,” O’Farrell said at a news conference at city hall.
The two men have rejected calls to resign despite widespread condemnation that led former council president Nury Martínez to resign last week.
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The leaked recording has thrown the council into chaos as angry protesters shut down meetings.
The body will meet virtually Tuesday after Councilman Mike Bonin, the target of Martinez’s most egregious comments, tested positive for COVID-19 after the Oct. 11 meeting and at least one other member was exposed, O’ said. Farrell.
In the recording made a year ago by an unknown person, Martínez dominated the conversation and made the most offensive comments, often using profanity. De León and Cedillo intervened at times and laughed at others.
De Leon has apologized for appearing to make or tolerate “insensitive comments.” Cedillo has said he should have objected to the language, but made no derisive comments himself.
Both men appeared at the Oct. 11 meeting but left after raucous protesters booed them and demanded they leave.
Cedillo is “reconciling his feelings about this transgression and understood the seriousness of the moment,” O’Farrell said. He has not been able to communicate with de León.
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