Editor’s note: This story contains offensive language.

Under increasing pressure, Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez resigned Monday as president of the council, a day after secretly taped audio leaked of racially demeaning remarks made by her and other council members.

“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments,” Martinez said in a statement, where she announced that her resignation would be effective immediately.

Although she stepped down as council president, Martinez stopped short of resigning from her council seat, stirring outrage among critics. With three other council members also implicated, the firestorm that has scorched Los Angeles politics showed no signs of immediately abating.

Martinez came under fire following Sunday’s release of the recorded October 2021 conversation in which she made racist remarks aimed at Councilman Mike Bonin’s 2-year-old son. Bonin is White and his adopted son is Black.

Councilman Kevin de León also made racially charged remarks during the conversation that included Councilman Gil Cedillo and L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera. On Monday, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and both mayoral candidates called on the embattled politicians to resign.

The group of council members was discussing the politically sensitive process of redrawing council district boundaries.

The recorded conversation appeared on Reddit before it was later removed from the site. It was unclear who was responsible for the recording and its leak.

Among other comments, Martinez belittled Bonin and criticized the child for his behavior at a Martin Luther King Day parade, saying Bonin’s son was misbehaving on a float, which might have tipped over if she and the other women on the float didn’t step in to “parent this kid.”

“They’re raising him like a little White kid,” Martinez said. “I was like, ‘This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.’”

Martinez also called the child “ese changuito,” Spanish for “that little monkey.”

De León also criticized Bonin.

“Mike Bonin won’t f—ing ever say peep about Latinos. He’ll never say a f—ing word about us,” he said.

De León also compared Bonin’s handling of his son at the parade to “when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag.”

“Su negrito, like on the side,” Martinez added, using a Spanish term for a Black person that’s considered demeaning by many.

At another point in the leaked conversation, Martinez recalls a conversation with businessman Danny Bakewell about possibly transferring Los Angeles International Airport out of Bonin’s council district and into that of Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson.

Martinez says she told Bakewell to “go get the airport from his little brother — that little bitch Bonin.”

Martinez also took aim at Los Angeles County District George Gascón in profane terms, after the group appeared to discuss whether Gascón would endorse Cedillo in his re-election campaign against Hernandez. And she referred to Oaxacans in Koreatown as “little short dark people,” saying “Tan feos” — “They’re ugly.”

“F— that guy. (inaudible) … He’s with the Blacks,” she said of Gascón.

A spokesperson for Gascón did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In her Monday statement, Martinez said: “I sincerely apologize to the people I hurt with my words: to my colleagues, their families, especially to Mike, Sean, and your son. As a mother, I know better and I am sorry. I am truly ashamed. I know this is the result of my own actions. I’m sorry to your entire family for putting you through this,” Martinez stated.

De León, Herrera and Cedillo apologized separately on Sunday for their roles in the racially charged conversation.

“In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me and I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that I am sorry,” Martinez said in a statement provided to CNS.

“The context of this conversation was concern over the redistricting process and concern about the potential negative impact it might have on communities of color. My work speaks for itself. I’ve worked hard to lead this city through its most difficult time.”

De León, who is also former president pro team of the State Senate, said: “There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate, and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. I’ve reached out to that colleague personally. On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders, and I will hold myself to a higher standard.”

Bonin and his partner, Sean Arian, tweeted a lengthy statement from the family Sunday calling for the council to remove Martinez as president and for her and de León to resign their seats entirely.

“We are appalled, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs, and talked about her desire to physically harm him. It’s vile, abhorrent, and utterly disgraceful. The City Council needs to remove her as Council President immediately, and she needs to resign from office. Any parent reading her comments will know she is unfit for public office.”