California official hurls cat across room and drinks beer during formal Zoom meeting, forced to quit
A California official was forced to resign after a video of him drinking and hurling his pet cat across the room was captured during an official Zoom meeting call and went viral last week.
The guy in question is Chris Platzer, one of the city planning commissioners in Vallejo. On April 20, he attended the city's Planning Commission video conference via Zoom from his home, due to the lockdown protocols in place amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The conference was a formal meeting, which was attended by a number of other officials to discuss the commission's business.
In the two-hour-long meeting, Platzer was constantly seen taking swigs from a mug that he had with him and getting up frequently from his chair. At one point, he picked up his laptop on which the meeting was going on and carried it to the kitchen. He opened the fridge to take out a green-colored bottle from the fridge, which was identified by TMZ as a local beer, most likely a Heineken.
Toward the end of the meeting, Platzer was asked to provide his opinion on a certain matter. At the same time, one could hear his pet cat meowing nearby. Before he proceeded to talk official business, Platzer picked up his cat and held it in front of the webcam so that the meeting attendees could see it. Then he said, "I'd like to introduce my cat" before chucking it away from him and out of sight. The move was followed by a dull thud.
Many of the people who witnessed the incident over Zoom laughed at Platzer's actions. When everyone was about to log-off, he was heard saying, "I’m going to call bull*** on you little b***s." He also made some racial commentary.
After the video was uploaded on social media, it went viral, with many accusing Platzer of animal abuse.
After facing pressure from the public to remove Platzer from his post, the City Council was soon going to conduct a vote on the same. However, before he could be sacked, Platzer tendered his resignation from the commission. He apologized for the way he conducted himself in the meeting.
“I did not conduct myself in the Zoom meeting in a manner befitting of a planning commissioner and apologize for any harm I may have inflicted,” Platzer wrote in an e-mail to The Reporter. “I serve at the pleasure of the council and no longer have that trust and backing. I extend my gratitude to those who have supported me during my tenure. I have always felt that serving Vallejo in a voluntary position is honorable because Vallejo is worth serving. We are all living in uncertain times and I certainly, like many of you, am adjusting to new normalcy."
Vallejo spokesperson Christina Lee said the city was still trying to confirm if Platzer had officially resigned from the commission.
Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan also condemned Platzer's behavior. “The issue for me is his whole demeanor during the entire meeting," he said. "This hurts the credibility of the city. What happens if a developer is watching the meeting (and sees that)? They would obviously have concerns about the city.”