Los Angeles Councilmember Nury Martinez announced she resigned from her seat “with a broken heart” Wednesday after she was caught on an audio recording hurling racist remarks.
Martinez faced immense blowback after a recording was leaked over the weekend where she called a fellow council member’s young son, who is black, a “little monkey” and suggested the child needed a “beatdown” during an October 2021 conversation about proposed redistricting.
“It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” she said in a long statement.
Martinez, elected in 2013, originally stepped down as LA city council president after the remarks were leaked and then on Tuesday said she was taking a leave of absence before she hit the road for good Wednesday.
The Democrat’s departure comes a day after President Biden called on her and two other councilmembers, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, to resign from their positions.
Nury Martinez announced her resignation from the LA City Council Wednesday. Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagThe announcement also comes on the heels of Attorney General Rob Bonta vowing to investigate LA’s redistricting process where they schemed to protect Latino political strength in council districts and that could result in criminal charges.
A labor leader part of the scandalous conversation, Ron Herrera, also resigned this week.
The explosive recording originally posted on Reddit and first reported on by the Los Angeles Times also caught Martinez accusing Councilmember Mike Bonin, who is white, of raising his son like a “little white kid.”
She also called the child, not even 3-years-old at the time, “su negrito” which is a derogatory term in Spanish for a black person. She called Bonin a “little b—h.”


She did not address her ugly remarks in her long statement, though previously apologized for the remarks. Instead, she recalled the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and initiatives the City Council enacted to help people in LA.
“To my constituents – Serving you has been a privilege and one that I don’t give up lightly,” Martinez said. “You are my neighbors, my friends, and the reason for this service.”
Part of the statement was also directed at her daughter when she said, “I know I have fallen short recently of the expectations we have for our family.
“I vow to you that I will strive to be a better woman to make you proud.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called her resignation the right move. APCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti both called Martinez’s resignation the right move in separate statements.
“Again, 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,” Newsom said.
With Post wires






