NEW ORLEANS — Mayor Cantrell said a video that shows her confronting a man inside of a bar more than likely shows her defending herself and she feels she was justified in doing so.
According to Nola. com, the video, which is making the rounds on social media, shows her confronting a man inside the Polo Club Lounge in the Gravier Street hotel Wednesday night.
"When you call my name, you speak to me. You understand? It's me. So LaToya is me. What do you have to say to me?" Cantrell said in the video, raising her voice at times. "You called my name."
Cantrell did ask the man what he wanted to say but repeatedly interrupted him, before finally allowing him to ask about not issuing a mandatory evacuation.
The man asks why she said "there wasn't enough time." Cantrell said they needed 72 hours and the man said that was "all she was gonna get," and she responded that they didn't even have that amount of time.
Nola.com said that eventually members of what appeared to be a security detail for Cantrell intervened.
The exchange - at least the part captured on the video - while heated, did not include any foul language and appeared to just be a raised voice discussion of an issue surrounding Hurricane Ida.
Cantrell said she hasn't seen the video, but did recall the encounter, vividly.
"Very disrespected, "she said was how she felt. "I'm so glad my child wasn't there. I'm not gonna repeat it, but it was a man who disrespected (me) and I spoke up for myself, which is what I was raised to do."