Mayor Lori Lightfoot Caught Uttering Profanity Into Hot Microphone During City Council Meeting
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot was caught uttering a profanity into a hot microphone Wednesday during a City Council meeting.
Lightfoot apparently didn't realize her microphone wasn't muted when she uttered "you got to be f*****g kidding me," during the meeting, just after Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) spoke in honor of Black History Month, as part of a City Council resolution marking the occasion.
After Wednesday's meeting, the mayor said her comment had nothing to do with Sanchez's remarks, although she did not explain exactly what prompted her profanity.
"Sorry to disappoint the Twitter trolls, but my comment had nothing to do with anything that was actually going on in City Council," Lightfoot said. "I've explained that to Alderman Rodriguez, and she understands that."
Sanchez's chief of staff confirmed Lightfoot reached out to the alderwoman afterward and explained her words were not directed at Sanchez.
Lightfoot also was caught on a hot mic in July 2019, when she called then-Fraternal Order of Police vice president Pat Murray a "clown" as Murray was walking up to speak to the mayor and aldermen at the start of the meeting.
"Oh, back again," Lightfoot whispered from her seat on the dais in the City Council chamber. "This is this FOP clown."
Murray, who clearly did not hear the mayor's "clown" remark at the time she made it on Wednesday, spoke at the City Council meeting to criticize the Chicago Police Board for firing four officers for covering up for Officer Jason Van Dyke after he fatally shot Laquan McDonald in 2014.
He accused former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office of covering up the fatal shooting by keeping dashboard camera video of the shooting, and said the officers who were fired did their jobs the night of the shooting by responding to a threat posed by McDonald.
Murray said the police union would fight to reverse the Police Board's decision to fire the officers by taking their case to court.
After the meeting was over, reporters made Lightfoot aware of the gaffe. She said, "It was not appropriate for me to say that out loud."
Lightfoot sparred with Murray at the previous City Council meeting a month earlier, when he said the mayor should be seeking input from the union representing rank-and-file police officers as she seeks to reform the department.
Lightfoot didn't waste any time firing back, accusing the FOP of opposing any reforms.
"Anytime that the FOP wants to do anything other than obstruct and object to reform, I'd be more than willing to meet with you," she said.
