Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigns – but does not apologize – after explosive audio of racist comments leaked

• LA City Council member Nury Martinez has resigned after she was caught making racist comments.
• Calls for her resignation grew locally and nationally after a leaked recording surfaced on Sunday.

Los Angeles City Council member Nury Martinez resigned on Wednesday after mounting pressure, including from the White House, due to racist comments she was recorded making in a closed-door meeting in 2021.

The comments were leaked over the weekend on Reddit and first reported on by The Los Angeles Times. Martinez and council members Kevin De Leon and Gil Cedillo could be heard making crude remarks in the conversation, where they discuss redistricting to preserve Latino political power in areas of Los Angeles.

In a long statement issued by her office announcing her resignation after nearly a week of outcry, Martinez said she needed "space and privacy." In the statement, Martinez did not offer an apology to the groups she referred to with racist comments, which included Black, Jewish, Oaxacan, and Armenian residents in Los Angeles.

In the conversation, Martinez called the Black child of white colleague Mike Bonin a "changuito," or little monkey. In a separate section, Martinez chided Oaxacan immigrants in the Koreatown neighborhood, calling them "tan feos," or so ugly.

District 6, which Martinez represented, is at least 70% Latino, 15% White, 9% Asian, and 3% Black, according to LA County data.

Both Los Angeles mayoral candidates, Rick Caruso and Karen Bass, as well as additional city council members, had called on Martinez – along with Cedillo and Leon, the other council members heard making racist comments in the taped conversation –to resign. President Joe Biden also joined the chorus of those asking for her resignation.

"The president is glad to see that one of the participants in that conversation has resigned, but they all should," said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, adding that the language in the recording was "unacceptable" and "appalling."

On Monday, Martinez resigned from her position as City Council president, but not the council itself, and taken a leave of absence as calls for her full resignation grew. Advocate groups from across Los Angeles spoke out at City Council meetings earlier this week, calling for all of the involved council members to resign.

Earlier this week, Martinez offered a short apology for her words, according to KTLA.

"I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I'm so sorry," Nury Martinez said KTLA on Monday. "I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt with my words."