West Hollywood Mayor John Duran embraced Southern California’s promiscuous culture for years.
While conducting official business he coyly remarked about the color of his underwear and named a public forum on anal cancer a “Booty Call to Action.” The city even paid $500,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Duran’s assistant – who got his job after matching with the mayor on Grindr and having sex with him.
That didn’t stop Duran from joining outspoken critics last fall who accepted the unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
At the time Duran said:
“Brett Kavanaugh’s display of rage and belligerence at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings proves that he does not have the temperament to be a judge — much less on the Supreme Court. It is abhorrent to think we are placing our future, our equality, and our liberty in the hands of a drunken frat boy who sexually assaulted a teenage girl while his friend Mark Judge stood by and laughed. This is a sad moment in the history of our nation.”
For many, Duran’s hypocrisy knew no bounds. And his career seemed made of Teflon. (Los Angeles Times)
But now, amid new allegations of sexual harassment against Duran by members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, some West Hollywood residents and politicians are saying enough is enough and that times have changed. Three of the city’s five council members have called on Duran to resign, saying he has become a distraction.
Protesters are planning to converge on the City Council meeting Tuesday to call for Duran’s ouster and seek action in another scandal: the recent deaths of two gay black men in the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a white, wealthy Democratic donor and LGBTQ activist. For several years, Duran worked as an attorney for Buck.
Last week, Robert Oliver resigned as vice chair of the city’s Public Safety Commission in protest after other commissioners declined to condemn Duran.
Finally, the #MeToo movement has come to Hollywood.
AAN Staff
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