(WTTW News/Provided)

A top aide to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson apologized Friday afternoon in an interview with WTTW News for referring to police as “f---ing pigs” during a 2021 podcast interview, but denied heckling the only Jewish member of the Chicago City Council during an emotional debate just days after Hamas attacked Israel.

Kennedy Bartley, 29, the managing deputy for external relations, said she feels deep regret about what she said in the wake of the August 2019 killing of Elijah McClain, of Aurora, Colorado. His death was the focus of renewed attention after the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police.

Bartley, who is facing calls to resign from several alderpeople who often oppose Johnson’s initiatives and policies, called her comments vulgar, callous and insensitive.

“I want to make it absolutely clear I don’t stand by them,” Bartley said. “I am embarrassed by them.”

Bartley said she has apologized for her remarks to the Chicago Police officers assigned to City Hall, and to alderpeople who called for her resignation.

“When you hurt people, regardless of if it was yesterday or three years ago, you stand on the responsibility of making it right,” Bartley said, adding that she was grateful they heard her out.

Johnson told NBC5 that Bartley’s remarks do not “reflect his values.” He has not asked for her registration, and the mayor’s office arranged for Bartley to speak with WTTW News Friday afternoon.

Bartley called serving in City Hall an honor and said she did not plan to resign her role, which oversees the mayor’s office that handles relations with the City Council. Several members of that team, including Deputy Mayor Sydney Holman, resigned this week after a reorganization.

Bartley said her role is to oversee that team’s efforts, while also making sure the mayor’s office is responsive to community members and organizations, without taking a direct role in negotiations with alderpeople.

Bartley, who was 25 when she made the remarks, said her comments reflected her immaturity and her “grief and rage and frustration” at the number of Black people killed by members of the Chicago Police Department.

In 2023, juries convicted an Aurora police officer and two members of the Aurora Fire Department of criminally negligent homicide in connection with McClain’s death.

Bartley made the remarks on the May 4, 2021, episode of the “This is Your Afterlife with Dave Maher,” in which she also voiced support for police abolition, as first reported by FOX32-TV. At the time, Bartley was the legislative director of United Working Families, a political organization closely aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Bartley served as the executive director of the group after it helped elect Johnson mayor and joined his administration at the end of May.

While Bartley apologized for her anti-police remarks, she declined to express regret for posting “From the river to the sea. Palestine will be free. Amen!” on her private account on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 9 – just two days after the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Bartley said she does not agree with some Jewish American groups that the phrase is antisemitic. Bartley said it is a call for freedom for Palestinians and the establishment of a Palestinian state, not a call for the destruction of Israel.

Bartley said she did not understand when she made that post that the phrase “from the river to the sea” had been “weaponized” by those who want Israel to cease to exist. That is the stated goal of Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

While Bartley said she would be more “mindful” of that context in the future, she declined to say she would never use the phrase again.

Ald. Debra Silverstein (50th Ward) called for Bartley to be fired for making that post, which came just days before the Chicago City Council passed a resolution condemning Hamas’ attack on Israel.

That Oct. 13 meeting spilled out of control, forcing Johnson to clear the main public gallery in the Council Chambers.

During that meeting, Silverstein was repeatedly interrupted with chants of “Free Palestine” as she urged her colleagues to stand with Israel as it grappled with the deadliest attack on Jewish people since the Holocaust.

On Thursday, Silverstein accused Bartley of heckling her during the debate, an accusation Bartley denied. Bartley said she snapped to signal support for public speakers who called for the liberation of Palestine, many of whom she has long worked with.

“I do not believe in heckling anyone,” Bartley said, calling the treatment of Silverstein “disrespectful.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” Bartley said.

Silverstein told WTTW News Friday that she did not witness Bartley heckling her. Silverstein acknowledged that Bartley was seated on the opposite side of the City Council Chambers from where she sat during that meeting. Silverstein said Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward) told her what Bartley had done. Waguespack was seated near Bartley during that meeting.

Waguespack said in a text message he saw Bartley heckle Silverstein. Both Waguespack and Silverstein frequently oppose Johnson’s initiatives and policies.

In an interview with WTTW News Friday evening, Silverstein said she still believes Bartley should resign, even after speaking with her about her remarks, both about Palestine and the police.

“I just don’t think she’s fit for the position,” Silverstein said.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]