Speakers at Los Angeles City Council meetings will be banned from using the N-word and the C-word, the council decided Wednesday.
The ban comes after years of tirades by a few speakers who attack officials’ weight, sexual orientation or gender and who sometimes use racial slurs.
Speakers will now receive a warning for using either word — or any variation of the word. If they continue with the offensive language, they will be removed from the room and possibly banned from future meetings.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who is Black, has said that the use of the words during public comment has discouraged people from coming to meetings.
“It is language that, anywhere outside this building where there aren’t four armed guards, would get you hurt if you said these things in public,” he said earlier this year.
The council’s decision to ban the words could be challenged in court, with some legal scholars saying it could violate speakers’ 1st Amendment free speech rights.
In 2014, the city paid $215,000 to a Black man who was ejected from a meeting for wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and a T-shirt with the N-word on it.
Attorney Wayne Spindler, who often uses offensive language at council meetings, said Wednesday that he plans to sue the city over the ban. He said he will read Tupac Shakur lyrics, including offensive curse words, until he is banned from a meeting.
“I’m going to file my $400-million lawsuit that I already have prepared and ready to file. If you want to make me the next millionaire, vote yes,” he said during public comment Wednesday.
Spindler was arrested in 2016 after submitting a public comment card showing a burning cross and a man hanging from a tree. On the card, he also wrote “Herb = [N-word],” referring to Herb Wesson, the council president at the time, who is Black. Prosecutors declined to press charges against Spindler.
Armando Herman, who attended the City Council vote Wednesday, is also a frequent offender.
At a City Council meeting earlier this month, Herman said the council was trying to suppress his speech, repeatedly referring to himself as a white N-word. He also used the C-word to describe an official in the room.
In 2023, a judge barred Herman from attending in person any public meetings at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, where the L.A. County supervisors meet, after he allegedly sent sexually suggestive emails to four female supervisors. He denied sending the emails.
Numerous other members of the public have spoken against the new rule, saying it violates their freedom of speech.
“You’re so weak you have to curb freedom of speech for everyone, and you know this is going to bring lawsuits,” said Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger, a member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council who often punctuates her remarks with singing, at the council meeting earlier this month.
“This is an attack on free speech,” she added.
L.A. City Council bans N-word and C-word at meetings
Speakers at Los Angeles City Council meetings will be banned from using the N-word and the C-word, the council decided Wednesday.
The ban comes after years of tirades by a few speakers who attack officials’ weight, sexual orientation or gender and who sometimes use racial slurs.
Speakers will now receive a warning for using either word — or any variation of the word. If they continue with the offensive language, they will be removed from the room and possibly banned from future meetings.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who is Black, has said that the use of the words during public comment has discouraged people from coming to meetings.
“It is language that, anywhere outside this building where there aren’t four armed guards, would get you hurt if you said these things in public,” he said earlier this year.
The council’s decision to ban the words could be challenged in court, with some legal scholars saying it could violate speakers’ 1st Amendment free speech rights.
In 2014, the city paid $215,000 to a Black man who was ejected from a meeting for wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and a T-shirt with the N-word on it.
Attorney Wayne Spindler, who often uses offensive language at council meetings, said Wednesday that he plans to sue the city over the ban. He said he will read Tupac Shakur lyrics, including offensive curse words, until he is banned from a meeting.
“I’m going to file my $400-million lawsuit that I already have prepared and ready to file. If you want to make me the next millionaire, vote yes,” he said during public comment Wednesday.
Spindler was arrested in 2016 after submitting a public comment card showing a burning cross and a man hanging from a tree. On the card, he also wrote “Herb = [N-word],” referring to Herb Wesson, the council president at the time, who is Black. Prosecutors declined to press charges against Spindler.
Armando Herman, who attended the City Council vote Wednesday, is also a frequent offender.
At a City Council meeting earlier this month, Herman said the council was trying to suppress his speech, repeatedly referring to himself as a white N-word. He also used the C-word to describe an official in the room.
In 2023, a judge barred Herman from attending in person any public meetings at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, where the L.A. County supervisors meet, after he allegedly sent sexually suggestive emails to four female supervisors. He denied sending the emails.
Numerous other members of the public have spoken against the new rule, saying it violates their freedom of speech.
“You’re so weak you have to curb freedom of speech for everyone, and you know this is going to bring lawsuits,” said Stacey Segarra-Bohlinger, a member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council who often punctuates her remarks with singing, at the council meeting earlier this month.
“This is an attack on free speech,” she added.
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Yulissa Escobar shows the fastest way off of ‘Love Island’
Want to succeed in reality show love? It might be best to keep your public life free of racial slurs.
“Love Island USA” contestant Yulissa Escobar, whose use of the N-word on a couple of podcasts surfaced over the weekend before the show’s rocky premiere Tuesday, was there and then gone in a heartbeat. A mere blip in love-competition TV’s continuum of smokin’ hot contestants.
She used the N-word casually and naturally in conversation, per video posted on Reddit and TMZ. She did not appear to be using it with disparaging intent — but the word is still racist on its face.
“They’re gonna get cancelled so bad and not like I care but they should be protecting them from mass cancellation like this by not casting them in the first place,” one Reddit user said.
Plus, Escobar had been partnered on the show with contestant Ace Greene, who is Black. Here’s how that selection went, according to Vulture: “The last to choose is Yulissa. I get the sense that someone once called her a ‘real firecracker’ and she’s been trying to live up to that ever since. She has clearly been waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble, so she aims her lips directly at Ace and they lock in. This goes on for a while.”
Before “Love Island USA” even premiered, fans and haters on social media were making plans to vote Escobar off as fast as they could. But the show beat them to it.
“Welcome back to ‘Love Island USA,’” narrator Iain Stirling said 18 minutes into the second episode of Season 7, which streamed Wednesday. “Yulissa has left the villa.” No other details were given.
“I can confirm Yulissa has left the villa,” a representative of the show told The Times on Thursday. No other details were given there either.
So viewers are left to connect the dots on their own — but seriously, those are some pretty huge, flashing-neon dots. Nobody needs that kind of attention, right? At least nobody in the reality TV business does.
The process to audition for “Love Island USA” seems fairly intense, with applicants asked off the bat for their social media usernames and quizzed as to whether they have an OnlyFans page or have ever done porn (sorry, they call it “Adult Film”).
The casting company also wants to know whether prospects have ever cheated on anyone, the location and meaning of any tattoos, whether they have any celebrity friends and whether their parents are still together.
There’s also this: “Is there any other information we should be made aware of concerning your application (including anything in your past that may attract negative press or publicity)? If YES, please provide details.”
Looks as if Escobar didn’t think her language was going to elicit negative publicity? But hey, Greene — who does have tattoos! — is now free to find fresh talent from among his remaining cast members.
As for that rocky premiere, “Love Island USA” fans got heated Tuesday when streamer Peacock posted on social media one minute after the planned showtime, “WE GOT A TEXT! Tonight’s episode will be slightly delayed. But it is worth the wait … Stay tuned!”
A full 40 minutes later, Season 7 got underway.
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