Councilman Anthony DiPierro has previously received backlash for a separate racially insensitive incident.
Councilman Anthony DiPierro (center) during a city council meeting held at Everett High School.
An Everett councilman was found saying racially insensitive comments with other city officials in a leaked Zoom recording, according to The Boston Globe.
The leaked video – which was posted by a whistleblower at World and on an Everett Facebook page – shows Councilman Anthony DiPierro and city workers making comments about bringing black people to events to avoid being called racist.
DiPierro, 27, the son of Mayor Carlo DeMaria’s cousin, has previously come under fire for sharing a racist meme.
the World reports that the Zoom video is from a private meeting in 2020 or 2021 involving a group of city councilors and employees. At the meeting, the group reportedly discussed how they could show they weren’t racist.
In the video, the mayor’s spokeswoman Deanna Deveney asks DiPierro to recruit “a black friend of yours,” according to the newspaper.
“I don’t have many of those friends,” DiPierro replied, according to the World. “I say it like that.”
Devaney reportedly replied, “No problem, we’ll find one.”
Former city councilwoman Rosa DiFlorio also allegedly told Devaney in the video to “hire a Haitian boyfriend to come with you,” according to the World.
The whistleblower reportedly sent the video to the mayor’s office and other city officials on March 28, but no disciplinary action was taken as city officials said the video violated the wiretapping law state electronics, World reports.
Residents and the Mystic Valley area branch of the NAACP have been calling for DiPierro’s resignation over the past month, the paper reports. The NAACP reportedly cited DiPierro’s “frequent and consistent use of the n-word in its communications,” calling it systemic.
the World says DiPierro did not respond to the Globe’s request for comment. DeMaria reportedly supported DiPierro.
“What he did was wrong,” DeMaria told the newspaper. “It wasn’t like he put it on his public page and made it public.”
Gerly Adrien, former city councilor and first black woman elected to this position, is also calling for DiPierro’s resignation, according to the World.
“If it was another city, they would have already disappeared,” Adrien said.
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