California governor hopeful Larry Elder has slammed Democrats for not calling attack on him a hate crime after a white woman in a gorilla mask was filmed throwing an egg at him on a campaign stop Wednesday.
On Thurday night, the GOP candidate told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson Tonight host Jesse Watters that he encountered the ‘very angry and ugly scene’ while he was touring a homeless encampment in Venice Beach.
‘If I were a Democrat, obviously, this would be called systemic racism, they’d be calling it a hate crime. I don’t like to play that game,’ he said.
Speaking of the woman who attacked him, he said: ‘She might be one of the 20,000 people that were released early from our prisons; felons, many of whom were violent offenders under this governor, I don’t know. We have two soft-on-crime DA’s.’
A white woman in a gorilla mask was filmed throwing an egg at California governor hopeful Larry Elder while he was on a campaign stop in Venice Beach on Wednesday
Elder said that his security detail his security detail was ‘physically assaulted, shot with a pellet gun and hit with projectiles.’
One of the protesters was the woman in the gorilla mask, who yelled ‘Get the hell out of here,’ before attempting to hit Elder with an egg, and was later seen punching a man who told her to calm down.
Earlier on Thursday, LA County Sherrif Alex Villanueva slammed the attack as a hate crime.
He added that ‘woke privilege’ is what enabled the woman to attack Edler and called out ‘woke’ politicians for not showing the same outrage that he said they would if Elder was a liberal.
He tweeted: ‘Woke privilege’ means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist.’
Elder made it only 12 minutes at the encampment on 3rd Avenue before the attack, after which the event was quickly halted and Elder was escorted to a waiting SUV.
On Thursday night, Elder told ‘Tucker Carlson’ host Jesse Watters that his campaign strongly condemned the criticism of Newsom’s children when they were seen maskless at a summer camp.
‘But the governor has not put out a statement about this white woman, apparently white woman, wearing a gorilla mask throwing an egg at me.’
He said that the woman ‘might be one of the 20,000 people that were released early from our prisons; felons, many of whom were violent offenders under this governor, I don’t know. We have two soft-on-crime DA’s.’
In an interview with Fox News earlier today, he added that some of the protesters shouted ‘racial epithets,’ but that he doesn’t know for certain if the woman in the gorilla mask was acting out of racism or just ‘mentally ill and might need treatment.’
Sherriff Alex Villanueva wrote in a tweet today that ‘woke privilege’ is what enabled the woman to attack Edler
He called out ‘woke’ politicians for not showing the same outrage that he said they would if Elder was a liberal
‘One person said to the effect of, ‘Larry Elder doesn’t give a blank about Black people; Larry Elder only cares about White people,’ ‘ Elder said. ‘. . . 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. Maybe it was just an idiot. Maybe it was just a fool. Maybe it was just someone who doesn’t like Larry Elder.’
Shortly after the attack yesterday, Elder claimed that his security team was shot by a pellet gun – which can cause serious injury at close range.
He tweeted yesterday, ‘Today I kicked off the Recall Express bus tour. Before we even left Los Angeles, my security detail was physically assaulted, shot with a pellet gun, and hit with projectiles. The intolerant left will not stop us. We will recall Gavin Newsom. We will save California.’
The LAPD is currently investigating the attack, and no arrests have been made.
The video of Wednesday’s incident was captured on video by Spectrum News reporter Kate Cagle and posted to Twitter, shows the leading GOP candidate in the gubernatorial recall race as he arrives in his new ‘Recall Express’ campaign bus after casting his ballot earlier in the morning.
‘The intolerant left will not stop us. We will recall Gavin Newsom. We will save California’ Elder tweeted after the attack
Elder (pictured) made it only 12 minutes at the encampment on 3rd Avenue before at least one person hurled an egg at him, causing him to get in a nearby Suburban and exit the scene
The conservative talk show host-turned-politician made it only 12 minutes at the encampment on 3rd Avenue before being chased by angry homeless people and the woman in the gorilla mask, who was traveling on a smart black bike.
‘It kind of glanced his head,’ an Elder campaign staffer told the Los Angeles Times of the woman’s egg.
Elder was joined by community activists and members of the Venice Neighborhood Council Public Health & Safety Committee Soledad Ursua and Chie Lunn, as they escorted Elder along Sunset Avenue.
‘He has no business down here,’ said encampment resident Sarah Duke, a homeless woman who is nearly four months pregnant.
‘If you ain’t going to help us, move … on.’
The exact nature of the group’s gripe with Elder remains uncertain.
A woman wearing a gorilla mask follows conservative talk show host and gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder as he walks along streets lined with tents of unhoused people, in Venice
Conservative talk show host and gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder, flanked by supporters, security and media, walks along streets lined with tents of homeless people
Elder tweeted a link (pictured) to a news article calling his attacker an ‘angry white liberal’
Last month, Elder pledged to implement a plan developed by former US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to house homeless residents, saying he would declare a ‘homeless emergency’ in the state as governor.
Elder added that he would consider himself a failure if he is not able to solve the state’s homeless issue should he be elected governor, according to Black Enterprise.
His next stop on Wednesday was far more positive while at Brent’s Deli in Northridge, where patrons cheered and filmed Elder before leaving with a take-out order of eight to 10 Reuben sandwiches, the the deli’s cashier told the Times.
Elder is the favorite conservative candidate to wrest the governorship from incumbent Gavin Newsom.
The recall election, scheduled for September 14, came after Newsom was blasted over his handling of the COVID pandemic.
He was also slated for eating indoors at the ultra-exclusive French Laundry restaurant in 2020 while imploring Californians to stay indoors.
The state endured among the toughest and longest-lasting lockdown measures of any US state, with Newsom facing further allegations of being out of touch after sending his children back to private schools with in-person classes while many California school districts refused to reopen classrooms.
Despite the scandals, a recent YouGov poll suggested Newsom will hold onto his job, with 58 per cent saying they’ll vote to keep him, with just 41 per cent opting to ditch.
Anyone voting to recall Newsom will be asked to name the person they’d like to see replace him, with the candidate that gets the most names becoming the next governor if Newsom does get ousted.
Elder gets in a waiting Chevrolet Suburban and exit the tense scene on Wednesday morning
The exact nature of the group’s gripe with Elder remains uncertain