The councilman has defied demands for his resignation and attended last week’s meeting, amid vociferous protests, “to get back to work,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan before the meeting. Calls for de León’s resignation have continued since October, when audio of a year-old conversation between de Léon and fellow council members was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Much of the conversation focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the council members’ frustration with them, but it also featured racist remarks about a fellow council member’s Black son and about Oaxacans. “I shouldn’t have said what I said,” de León told CNN on Tuesday, clarifying his remarks comparing White colleague Mike Bonin’s Black child to a designer handbag. De León pointed to his body of work, including his work on environmental issues and advocacy on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

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