In San Francisco, a mayoral candidate meet-and-greet ended abruptly when protestors interrupted the event and shouted racial slurs at Supervisor Jane Kim, calling her a "skinny-ass rice-eating motherfucker."
VIDEO: Racial slur yelled at SF Mayoral candidate Jane Kim
The incident, caught on Facebook Live video, occurred during a joint campaign event hosted by Kim and Mark Leno in the Fillmore district on Saturday. Kim had just finished speaking about affordable housing in the city when protestors -- apparently supporters of candidate London Breed -- crashed the proceedings.
The video shows an audience member interrupting the Q&A, demanding why Supervisor Breed wasn't invited to the event. Things quickly go off the rails as others join in the shouting, until that first gentleman (who appears to be chomping on some grapes?!) yells "You got this skinny-ass rice-eating motherfucker coming in here" -- referring, of course, to the Asian American candidate -- "what's she going to do in Fillmore?"
Yeah, I think this event is over. The shouting begins around the five-minute mark:
The event was cut short as organizers were unable to restore order.
Kim posted a statement to Twitter the following day, calling the comments "unfortunate," but she didn't take them personally. "I'm not going to let this divide our city, no matter who you support for mayor."
Yesterday, an unfortunate incident, was caught on video at a venue in Fillmore. I do not take it personally *and* I’m not going to let this divide our city, no matter who you support for mayor. My statement is below: pic.twitter.com/s6sOL5VRF2
— Jane Kim 金貞妍 (@JaneKim) May 13, 2018
Breed also condemned the incident, telling KGO, ""I don't tolerate racism of any kind and you know it was really unfortunate some of the comments were made and I just don't tolerate that."
Here's the full statement from Breed's office:
"Board President Breed was not invited to the event in the Fillmore and did not attend.She condemns racism and intolerance of any kind. London Breed has never been anything but respectful to Supervisor Kim, and they maintain a positive professional relationship even against the rigors of a hard-fought mayoral campaign. She has even praised Supervisor Kim for her approach to the mayoral campaign in editorial board meetings. Supervisors Breed and Kim are not the problem. Furthermore, on this campaign, London Breed has been the target of hate speech and threats leveled by her opponents' supporters. She does not hold that ugly behavior against her opponents, nor does she believe they’re responsible for behavior they can’t control. She believes all of the candidates in this race are better than that."
The San Francisco mayoral race includes some of the most diverse front-runners in the city's history. Breed is African-American, Kim is Korean American and former state Sen. Mark Leno is openly gay. The race deserves a worthwhile conversation on who can represent and serve the best interests of the city. That conversation definitely did not happen at this event.
"We have enough divisive, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-black comments coming from the White House," Kim said. "We cannot allow our communities to be pitted against each other. We are better than that."
More here: Racial Slurs Abruptly End Mayoral Candidate Event in SF
