LOS ANGELES ā€” If youā€™ve watched a debate, a press conference or a town hall in Los Angeles lately where things went off the rails, youā€™ve probably already heard the voices of Jason Reedy and Ricci Sergienko, two left-wing organizers dedicated to disrupting the status quo by interrupting public events.


What You Need To Know

  • Six staggered outbursts disrupted roughly 20 minutes of the hourlong LA mayoral debate hosted by LMU

  • The disruptions are designed to get mainstream attention and go viral

  • Councilmember Joe Buscainoā€™s mayoral campaign team says they are a part of their strategy to show a city out of control

  • Sheriff Alex Villanuevaā€™s town hall in Brentwood was also disrupted

ā€œRevolutionary,ā€ said Reedy, an organizer with Stop LAPD Spying, when asked to describe his politics. He said heā€™s an abolitionist and a radical.

They call their persistent hounding of elected officials ā€œbird-dogging,ā€ and the LMU mayoral debate that aired live on Spectrum was no exception, with Sergienko erupting into an expletive-laden rant when candidates were asked about expanding the LAPD.

ā€œThat wasnā€™t just a chaotic situation. That was extremely well-planned and organized and we knew what we were doing,ā€ Sergienko said.

Six staggered outbursts disrupted roughly 20 minutes of the hourlong debate.

The disruptions are designed to get mainstream attention and go viral. The Peopleā€™s City Council Twitter account, used by Sergienko and other organizers, receives hundreds of thousands of views from like-minded followers.

ā€œThe most popular tweet of the night was of Matyos Kidane from Stop LAPD Spying, a Black activist, who was shouted down and booed by a crowd of white liberal elites,ā€ Sergienko said.

The activists are so ubiquitous, calling into city meetings and showing up at events, that Councilmember Joe Buscainoā€™s mayoral campaign team says they are a part of their strategy to show a city out of control.

ā€œThis is clearly out of hand,ā€ Buscaino said after he was interrupted several times. ā€œWe have our First Amendment rights that we embrace, but at the same time, the First Amendment does not give you a right to disrupt and be an idiot.ā€

Undeterred by critics, Sergienko and Reedy see themselves as revolutionaries fighting a white supremacist police state. While Sergienko, who recently became a licensed attorney, is confrontational, he says he stays within the bounds of free speech.

ā€œWe currently engage in non-violent demonstrations and protests,ā€ Sergienko said.

Reedy said he was working to address food insecurity until the George Floyd uprising in 2020. Nearly two years later, he is still in the streets.

ā€œI think being Black in America radicalized me,ā€ Reedy said. ā€œI think I was awake, I wasnā€™t up out of bed yet.ā€

On Tuesday, Reedy called out Rep. Karen Bass, a former community organizer herself.

ā€œA lot of different members of my community have been trying to call her in many months, so I felt she needed to be called out," Reedy said. "The reason I said 'Karen, stop being a Karen' is because Karen Bass is prioritizing white feelings and white comfort over Black lives.ā€

On stage, Bass lamented the state of discourse in American politics.

ā€œThis is one of the reasons, actually, I decided not to run again and to come home, because Iā€™ve been so concerned about the level of discourse here, right in Los Angeles,ā€ Bass said.

Two days later, Reedy and Sergienko were at it again, disrupting Sheriff Alex Villanuevaā€™s town hall in Brentwood.