Queens City Council candidate deletes racist, anti-gay tweets from teen years – New York Post
The liberal candidate challenging moderate Queens Councilman Robert Holden in the June Democratic primary recently yanked down racist and homophobic slurs he posted online as a teen.
Political hopeful Juan Ardila, 27 — who has the backing of many progressive pols and unions — made derogatory comments about Asians, gays, women and Jews and used the N-word in mainly Facebook posts while in high school from 2009 to 2011.
Ardila referred to Filipino boxing great Manny Pacquiao as a “bumbass c—k” in a posting a decade ago while saying the pugilist would lose a fight, screengrabs obtained by The Post show.
Ardila and a pal also spewed anti-gay slurs when discussing the merits of singer John Mayer.
“ur the gay one nway u f-g crusader,” wrote Ardilla, who used “homo” in his posts, too.
Ardila was just endorsed by the city’s oldest gay Democratic club, the Stonewall Democrats.
After garnering the club’s support last week, Ardila tweeted, “I look forward to working together for a more just and inclusive city. It’s an honor to have your endorsement.”
In his younger years, the candidate also spewed misogynistic words such as “bitch” and “c–t.”
In addition, while discussing the movie “2012,” he said, “Every Juan s–ts on a Jew!!!”
He also referred to one of his friends as a “dumb polack” and hurled the N-word.
The candidate began scrubbing his accounts or making his posts private about 10 days ago, said a source familiar with the matter.
Ardila told The Post on Sunday that he had no comment “at this moment.”
He is seeking to topple Holden in the 30th District, which includes the neighborhoods of Glendale, Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodhaven and Woodside.
Holden, though a Democrat, was elected running on the Republican line, defeating party incumbent Elizabeth Crowley in 2017. He ran as a Republican after losing to Crowley in the Democratic primary.
His spokesman, Kevin Ryan, told The Post, “There is no place anywhere in this city for the kind of racist, homophobic and misogynistic language that Mr. Ardila has publicly posted.
“Anyone who has endorsed him should immediately withdraw their support. His hateful words show him to be unfit to work in government or anywhere else.”
Ardila’s candidacy has the support of the Working Families Party, District Council 37, Local 32 BJ-SEIU, health workers Local 1199-SEIU, the Hotel Trades Council, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Councilmen Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer and state Sen. Michael Gianaris.
Meanwhile, Holden is backed by the United Federation of Teachers and a slew of unions representing cops, firefighters, sanitation and construction workers and other laborers.