New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is filmed flipping the bird while on the parade float at Mardi Gras

Beleaguered New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is under fire again, this time for being filmed screaming and throwing the bird at passengers on a Mardi Gras parade float.

The brief clip shows the Democratic leader, 50, cheering from the stands in the center of Gallier Hall, appearing to cheer in support of the Krewe of Tucks parade before raising her middle finger to the crowd.

The mayoress seems to shout to the floats that pass by her: ‘I love you. God bless you. I’ll see you Happy carnival. Enjoy your trip. I am very glad that your trip has been good. I love you.’

It’s unclear exactly what prompted Cantrell’s boorish reaction and a statement from the mayor’s office released Sunday night reads: ‘Mardi Gras is a time when satire and jokes are on full display. The city has been enjoying a safe and healthy Carnival and looks forward to continuing the celebration at Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras’.

Cantrell has faced a wave of criticism in recent months, including for using $30,000 of taxpayer funds to buy first-class tickets to Europe.

One Instagram user provided possible context for Cantrell’s actions: ‘Floats pass through Gallier Hall and MANY turn their backs. She responds with sarcasm and… that.

‘I can’t blame the float riders at all. Show disapproval when due’, wrote Elzcat74.

Cantrell is currently facing a recall campaign that is striving to collect enough signatures by Wednesday to put the measure on a ballot.

a recent report indicated that the petition organizers were more than 1,000 signatures away from their goal.

The organizers also filed a lawsuit last week, alleging that New Orleans Registrar Sandra Wilson failed to carefully and accurately remove lists of ineligible voters, as required annually.

The lawsuit alleges there are more than 30,000 errors on the current rolls and hopes to reduce the total number of eligible and active registered voters in Orleans Parish.

If the reels were to be successfully purged, the number of signatures required to trigger a withdrawal would also decrease.

Fox 8 political analyst Dr. Robert Collins said Cantrell’s latest public controversy will not help the mayor’s cause as her constituents grow increasingly irritated with her behavior.

“Her detractors argue that the mayor is out of control, that she is distanced,” he said.

“Now if you have a mayor who is making an obscene hand gesture at people on a float, obviously they will take that video and post it on all their social media sites.

It reinforces his argument that the mayor is out of touch and out of control. He plays with the narrative of his detractors, of his opponents. So it wasn’t a smart move on the mayor’s part,’ he added.

The Mardi Gras fiasco is the latest in a growing list of scandals endured by Cantrell during his time in office.

The mayor had nearly $30,000 in travel expenses, mostly in the form of tickets to Europe, which the city told her she had to pay for, lest the figure be deducted from her salary.

Cantrell argued at the time that the travel updates were necessary due to health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that luxury travel accommodations were “a matter of security, not luxury.”

“Anyone who wants to question how I protect myself just doesn’t understand the world that black women walk in,” she said.

The mayor has also advocated living in a city-owned free luxury apartment in the city’s famous French Quarter.

Cantrell, who earns $188,000 a year, argued that it is not illegal for her to live rent-free in a $3,000-a-month apartment in Jackson Square.

“The mayor’s use of the city-owned apartment in Pontalba is consistent with the use of previous mayors,” his communications director said.

“In the 2013 franchise agreement there are no rules governing how that unit should be used and the FMC believes that the mayor has no obligation to pay rent on that apartment because he is using it in the same way that the mayors have enjoyed it. previous mayors.

Following Cantrell’s finger flick during a Saturday parade, and shortly after his spokesman said he was overseeing a safe Mardi Gras, tragedy struck at the Bacchus parade Sunday night.

Five people, including a girl, were shot around 9:30 p.m.

One person was detained at the scene, although the attacker’s motives remain unclear.

Three men and two women were wounded in the shooting, police said. One of the victims was a young woman. The five victims were rushed to a local hospital where one is in critical condition and four are stable.

The Krewe of Bacchus parade, which is an annual Mardi Gras tradition, was temporarily halted as police cordoned off part of the area and searched for evidence.

The police said two The weapons were recovered from the scene after the suspect was taken into custody.