LA City Councilmembers react to De León's refusal to resign

Nearly 24 hours after LA City Councilman Kevin de León made his plans to remain on City Council known, despite his participation in a racially-charged conversation back in Oct. 2021, fellow City Councilmembers have come forward to express their disappointment in his decision. 

"I have to do the hard work. I have to repair. I have to help heal. I have to help restore," the councilman said during an exclusive interview with CBS2's Tom Wait on Wednesday. 

Those councilmembers are just a few of the many Los Angeles residents outraged at his refusal to resign in the wake of an audio leak that revealed de León, Gil Cedillo, then-Council President Nury Martinez and LA Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera involved in a conversation where a number of racist comments were hurled around. 

In the weeks since the audio was leaked to the public, Martinez and Herrera have offered their resignations, but Cedillo and De León have refused to bend to the public's will. Some people have even camped out near de León's Eagle Rock home, hoping that their demonstrations will lend some insight into how his constituents truly feel with his blatant disregard to their feelings. 

Moments after the interview with de León was first aired on CBS2, Councilman Mike Bonin, whose family was specifically targeted during the conversation, with his Black son being referred to as a "little monkey," took to Twitter to express his profound anger in De León's decision. 

On Thursday, he spoke with CBS and doubled down on that disappointment. 

"I was really disappointed and sort of disgusted by Kevin's comments," he said. "He clearly doesn't get, I think, what he did and the gravity of what's going on."

Bonin wasn't the only LA City Councilmember to express their disappointment on Wednesday. 

"For the sake of his constituents and for the sake of the city, I wish and I call on him to resign," said Councilman Bob Blumenfield. Blumenfield is just part of the entirety of City Council that have called for De León and Cedillo to step down from their seats. 

Some members have even threatened to skip out on council meetings until the pair have resigned. 

"I'm hearing from my colleagues that they will boycott the City Council meetings if he does shop up," said Councilman Joe Buscaino. "This here is greater than Kevin. We as a city need to advance our policy agenda and we can't have one person refuse to come in for us to do the people's work."

As he continues to express his apology for his role in the scandal, De Leon disclosed that he called Bonin in the hours following the audio leak, leaving a profuse apology to his voicemail. 

Bonin said that doesn't quite cut it. 

"He needs to seek an apology, at some point, from my son, and my son's too young to understand this, so Kevin's gotta wait about 10 years until the little boy who was hit by these words understands and has the capacity to make his own decision of forgiveness," Bonin said. 

He said that if either De León or Cedillo show up for Friday's scheduled City Hall meeting, he'll walk out.