“I’m very thankful for the donors that give me the opportunity about the support that I give, I’ve been given, from the uh, Huntington Beach residents here in Huntington Beach.” — Tito Ortiz
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, who recently won a seat on the Huntington Beach City Council, is learning very quickly that politics is more than just shaking hands and kissing babies.
Especially if you can’t even get “pandemic” right.
Ortiz, who turns 46 in January, was roasted by a concerned citizen during his first city council meeting. Apparently not everyone is okay with “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” and his increasingly wacky conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
“I think it’s important to inform the people and make sure that you are being a good example,” the citizen said by phone (transcribed by Tom Taylor). “I do not think it is appropriate, for example, to claim that COVID is a form of population control or to cite a news article claiming that masks don’t work, which is based on a Danish study which says on its first page—and I quote—that it has ‘inconclusive evidence results, missing data, variable adherence, patient-reported findings on home tests, no blinding, and no assessment on whether masks can decrease the transmission from mask-wearers to others.’ That’s on the first page of a study that an incoming city council member cited on their Instagram page.”
Yes, that incoming city council member was Ortiz.
“Most of all, I think it’s important to respect the people that work for us in our city,” the caller continued. “I don’t think it’s respectful to say that ventilators cause COVID or to imply guilt on the part of our doctors and medical professionals. I also do not think it is respectful to not have the police wearing masks in crowded environments. It doesn’t cost that much to wear masks and I think it’s the bare minimum of respect to wear one when you’re in a large crowd of people downtown.”
Check out the video below:
A Huntington Beach resident calls in and roasts Tito. pic.twitter.com/o4FVTvPIGP
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) December 8, 2020
First stop, City Council. Next stop, Governor of California?