Black man addresses city council in KKK garb

Watch video of man addressing city council in KKK outfit

KIM BALDONADO

Los Angeles City Council members walked out after a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit refused to remove his hood Wednesday during a public comments period.

Councilman Dennis Zine asked the man, identified as Michael Hunt, twice to remove the hood.

"Mr. Hunt, you have to remove your hood," Zine said as Hunt, who is black, approached the podium. "Are you refusing to remove your hood?"

When he refused, Zine said the council could not hear him if he didn't remove the hood.

"No, this is part of my First Amendment privileges," Hunt said.

It's not the first time Hunt has appeared in front of the council in Klan garb. The Los Angeles Times reported that Hunt appeared in the outfit at a Tuesday meeting.

He recently challenged the city's vending ordinance in federal court, the newspaper reported.

Hunt never removed the hood, although he briefly lifted the a flap to ask why he needed to remove it.

His reasons for attending the meeting remained unclear because the quorum, the minimum number of council members needed to conduct business, was broken when some members left the chambers.

Zine adjourned the meeting for lack of a quorum.

"This person has used the N-word in the past, and that has led to the council changing its rules," Councilman Bernard Parks told the Times. "No one who is in attendance, at home watching on Channel 35 or online should be subjected to his indiscretion."