A city councilmember from New Jersey has agreed to resign after allegations that he used a racial slur against an African-American soccer coach began to circulate, reported the mayor of Hackensack.
As coach Shaun Holder was instructing players on the field, Hackensack City Councilmember Leo Battaglia was allegedly making racist remarks directed towards Holder in Spanish. Another Spanish-speaking parent overheard Battaglia's comments and informed Holder of them, reported NBC.
As the first Black State Senator from Bergen County, I am both deeply disturbed and outraged by the reported racist comments of Councilman Leo Battaglia. https://t.co/iiDgoEZ05e pic.twitter.com/GjLCKof6iH
— Gordon M. Johnson (@GMJohnsonNJ) October 11, 2024
"The councilman, to keep it PG, said that the color of my skin contributed to me not being good enough to coach soccer," Holder said.
"I would never intentionally make any kind of negative statements about any person," said Battaglia at a recent city council meeting in which he was asked to step down from his position.
Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse Jr. confirmed that Battaglia agreed to resign after being dropped from Labrosse's political ticket despite the fact that Battaglia continues to insist that the allegations against him are "lies".
This comes as Mayor Labosse and his allies face separate accusations of racism for dropping lawmaker Gerard Carroll, the only African-American city councilmember, from their political ticket.
"We made the decision to replace Councilman Carroll on our ticket prior to this entire incident because he has been meeting with our political opponents for months," said Mayor Labosse in a statement. "I have made it clear how disappointed we are about an inappropriate comment councilman Battaglia made."
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