CHICAGO (WGN) — A conservative news outlet is suing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over her decision to grant interviews with only reporters of color for her two-year anniversary.
The Daily Caller News Foundation and Reporter Thomas Catenacci, who is white, filed the lawsuit in federal court that alleges Lightfoot violated their free speech and civil rights outlined in the First and Fourteenth amendments. Catenacci calls the move “blatantly discriminatory.”
Lightfoot said the decision was for one day only — and was intended to start a conversation about diversity among City Hall reporters who are mostly white.
“If I as the Black woman mayor, the first ever, don’t challenge us, the collective us, to do better, to really make sure that in every institution it reflects the diversity, nuance and texture, the shame on me,” Lightfoot said at the time.
The mayor’s decision caused backlash with many questioning the timing of the decision.