A digital press aide for the New York City Council is facing scrutiny over her previous advocacy for violence against police officers.
Her name is Ember Ollom, and she was hired by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams last fall, according to the New York Post.
The problem is she reportedly “urged people to attack city cops on social media amid confrontations between officers and demonstrators during the George Floyd protests in May of 2020,” the Post notes.
In May of that year, then-Brooklyn Councilman Justin Brannan posted tweets denouncing the violence he was witnessing:
Last night was an impossible situation that accomplished nothing. And I can’t help but feel it didn’t do George Floyd any justice.
Instead, we are now consumed with the actions of a few – a distraction that does nothing to help ensure what happened to them never happens again.
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) May 30, 2020
In the middle of a deadly pandemic, we saw elected officials maced, protestors indiscriminately thrown to the ground and beaten with batons, bottles thrown at cops, and NYPD vans torched.
The version of New York City we saw last night was not a version anybody wants.
— Justin Brannan (@JustinBrannan) May 30, 2020
In response, Ollom posted a since-private tweet calling for more violence.
“I would like it on the record that I would like you all to throw more bottles at cops and torch more vans,” she reportedly wrote.
View a screenshot of the tweet below:
Brannan never denounced her tweet. Brannan the #BayRidgeBully bowed to the mob rule voting to defund the #NYPD pic.twitter.com/L94xpIpeO3
— Hughie (@Nflynn72) July 7, 2023
According to Twitter sleuths, she also posted other vile tweets.
“I’m glad NYPD vans were torched. I hope there are more. Return your cop money, make donations, get on the front lines, or at least shut the f–k up,” she wrote in one extra tweet.
Ember made many vile and violent statements. This was not a one off incident. @nypost pic.twitter.com/CDprVmfIuM
— NYSkdiver (@NYSkdiver) July 7, 2023
Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association union, wasn’t thrilled to hear about Ollom’s past advocacy for anti-cop violence.
“No wonder the City Council spends more time tormenting police officers than helping us stop violent crime – just look at the hardcore cop-haters on their team,” he said to the Post.
“This hate-filled individual who called for more attacks on police officers should be investigated and fired, but we know that won’t happen because the City Council only believes in ‘accountability’ for cops,” he added.
Republican activist and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa also slammed the Council, saying it’s disgraceful but not surprising that they’d hire her.
“Birds of a feather flock together. She’s reflective of the views the progressives on the City Council have of the police. ‘She one of us. We want her on our staff!'” he said.
The reaction from the public has been similar.
Look:
Should be on the unemployment line.
— KLezanchuk (@Stillkicking55) July 7, 2023
She should be removed from her position. She’s a clear danger to the people and the police
— Elizabeth G (@Smokeysrules) July 7, 2023
I don’t know about you. But if she has police protection? It should be suspended for one day for every bottle thrown and a week for every van burned!
— JAMES (@comradexmedic) July 7, 2023
Ember Ollom is a cop-hating piece of shit who’s now playing the victim after inciting violence against cops. And the pro-criminal @NYCCouncil is circling the wagons around her &defending her vile call to harm cops. Any comment from defunder CM @JustinBrannan
— Hank (@HankMiller) July 7, 2023
The city council that is defending this miscreant is the same city council that ordered a removal of a statue of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the US and author of the Declaration of Independence. Yet we are asked not to judge this anarchist’s actions from 2020?
— Reza Chowdhury (@RezaC1) July 7, 2023
Ollom for her part now purports to regret her past actions.
“Witnessing police brutality against New Yorkers at the height of the 2020 George Floyd protests when I was 25 years old, I was frustrated and made a post in anger that was a regrettable choice of words that I later deleted,” she told the Post.
However, she couldn’t resist playing the victim.
“It is unfortunate that a mistake I made three years ago is being used to attack me in pursuit of a political agenda,” she added.
Uh huh …
As for the Council, it’s chosen to defend hiring her.
“Ember is a staffer that we selected in a competitive process with multiple candidates. She is highly qualified and dedicated to serving the city – any insinuation that she did not earn her job is frankly misogynistic,” Council spokesperson Shirley Limongi said.
“She has expressed remorse for the words used in a three-year-old tweet posted in the heat of the 2020 racial justice protests that was deleted shortly thereafter, and using it to attack a young woman on our staff is disgraceful. We reject violence in all forms,” she added.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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