Mayor Brandon Johnson calls reporter ‘disgusting and racist’ for questioning black teen violence in Chicago

on his public safety priorities.

Kelly asked the following question: "Why is it that you think a Christmas market across the street from City Hall is more of a threat to public safety than violent black teenagers running down State Street, shooting people at a Christmas tree lighting? Shows your priorities. What do you say to those [concerned citizens]?"

Johnson replied, "That they should avoid you. I'm not going to entertain [it] because the whole premise of everything that you bring up is not only disgusting and racist, there's no fact to it."

The reporter's question was in reference to a November 21 shooting that occurred shortly after Mayor Johnson's Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Millennium Park. A 14-year-old boy was fatally shot, and eight other teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17 were wounded when a gathering of hundreds of youths escalated into riots and two separate shootings along State Street.

Kelly described the mayor and his staff as "petty schoolyard bullies" in a social media post about the encounter. Before pressing Johnson on the State Street shooting, the reporter brought up the brutal attack on 26-year-old Bethany McKee, who was doused in gasoline and set ablaze on a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) L train last month. The suspect, 45-year-old Lawrence Reed, is a criminal repeat offender with over 70 prior arrests.

Johnson had previously described the incident as an "isolated" event and suggested it reflected a "sickness" in a system to incarcerate "violent repeat offenders who look like him." Kelly told Johnson that his remarks drew strong criticism from residents and business leaders, including from the black and brown community. The reporter's question about the city's public safety crisis left Johnson visibly agitated, prompting the mayor to go into defense mode.