Orange County DA Todd Spitzer Under Fire Again For Race Related Comments

ORANGE COUNTY (CBSLA) - Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is under fire once again over controversial comments he made at an event nearly three years ago.

Spitzer said he used the racial epithet, which negatively refers to African Americans, while quoting a white supremacist. The controversial comments came during a discussion about hate crimes at a 2019 event hosted by the Iranian American Bar Association.

Video of the event was released by a media group that calls itself OC Watch.

"...and says -- there's no kids here so I'm good I guess -- hey, you [expletive], I'm going to drop your baby because [expletives] shouldn't have babies," Spitzer can be seen saying in the video.

RELATED: Former OC Prosecutor Alleges DA Todd Spitzer Raised Race As Issue In Death Penalty Case

A challenger in the district attorney's race is calling on Spitzer to resign.

The DA condemns what he called deceitful editing of the video into a shorter clip without giving context to the discussion, which went on for at least 40 minutes.

Spitzer said he was invited to the event "to deliver the keynote speech in part because of the work I am doing to aggressively prosecute hate crimes in Orange County. The video shows me directly quoting the very words an evil white supremacist used while viciously attacking a pregnant African American woman."

On Tuesday in Santa Ana, a handful of community activists said they too want the DA to leave his post. The California NAACP also announced it wants Spitzer out.

Last week, the DA came under fire for bringing up race in a discussion about a potential death penalty case, which some attorneys said was illegal.

In reference to criticism about about that incident, Spitzer said his comments were mischaracterized.

The DA is up for reelection, with the primary happening in June. At this point, two former district attorneys and a lawyer from San Diego are trying to unseat Spitzer.

In:
• Orange County