A local Bay Area rapper who goes by the name Equipto confronted San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee on Wednesday night and called him a “disgrace to Asians,” blaming him for spurring the housing crisis that has displaced thousands in the city.
“You’re a disgrace to Asians, man. You got no heart,” Equipto said in a video he posted to Facebook and Twitter, which has since gone viral.
“The people that built this city you’re getting them all kicked out of here, man. That’s some cold shit. You’re part of it. I know you are. I know you’re linked with mobsters bro.”
San Francisco’s tech boom has pumped an influx of cash into the area. Techies with hefty salaries willing to pay the skyrocketing prices for rents have been, however unwittingly, contributing to a crisis in which average San Franciscans are increasingly being forced to live in shared spaces to offset the cost of living there.
“You’re a disgrace to Asians man, we can make a change. You’re kicking the people that built this city outta here!” Equipto said. The San Francisco Examiner‘s Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez published an article on the incident. He wrote, “[i]t appears yelling at the mayor in restaurants is the only option people have if they disagree with his policies – because Lee isn’t goin’ anywhere.”
The San Francisco Examiner pointed out that Lee is facing electoral challenges from Amy Farah Weiss and the Examiner‘s own columnist, Broke-Ass Stuart.
I’m running for mayor of San Francisco! Read all about it! http://t.co/yVnIsjGzJm pic.twitter.com/o3dvYlTOiR — Broke-Ass Stuart (@BrokeAssStuart) May 21, 2015
Neither of these opponents appear to have the funds necessary to take an incumbent like Lee on. Lee reportedly has $1.4 million in his campaign war chest.
“It’s such an uncontested race, there’ll only be one mayoral ‘debate’ (though it’s apparently not formatted like a debate), hosted by the League of Women Voters tomorrow [Thursday] night,” Rodriguez wrote.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz and on Facebook.