Los Angeles County’s Democratic sheriff called the egg-throwing attack on California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder by a white woman in a gorilla mask this week a hate crime.
“QUESTION: How is this not a hate crime?” Sheriff Alex Villanueva tweeted Thursday about the attack on the Black Republican. “ANSWER: Because ‘woke privilege’ means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist.”
“Where is the outrage from our politicians?” he added. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing the recall electionon Tuesday, has yet to comment on the incident.
Elder is the frontrunner to replace Newsom if Californians vote to recall him, with an average 18.9 point polling lead, according to FiveThirtyEight. Averages show Newsom with a 13 point advantage against efforts to recall him.
The egg just missed Elder’s head after the woman threw it at him, Fox News reported. Elder said hecklers also yelled racial epithets at him.
“I’m not somebody who pulls out the race card the way Barack Obama does, the way Al Sharpton does, the way CNN does, the way Black Lives Matter does,” Elder told Fox News on Thursday. “Maybe it was just an idiot. Maybe it was just a fool. Maybe it was just someone who doesn’t like Larry Elder.”
“All I know is: if I were a liberal and somebody wearing a gorilla mask who was a White woman threw an egg at me, the left would be screaming about systemic racism,” he added.
Villanueva, who often calls out the “woke left,” told the Washington Examiner he would investigate the incident as a hate crime, “because the woman wore a gorilla mask.”
“Just imagine the outrage if the roles had been reversed. We would never hear the end of it,” Villanueva told the Examiner.
“It conveniently hides her identity, but there was a message there. She could’ve picked a Groucho Marx mask,” he added. “I think the message was clear.”
Mark Gonzalez, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, called for Villanueva’s resignation on June 8.
