(UPDATE: A new Tampa Bay Times story says the man pictured in an image with King denies being photographed. Mayor Kriseman has also said he has no reason to disbelieve King's own denials that he sent the messages.)
Communities United for Reparations and Economic Development, the St. Petersburg-based grassroots organization closely related to the Uhuru Solidarity Movement, will hold a press conference on the steps of St. Pete's City Hall tomorrow morning calling for Mayor Rick Kriseman to resign. CURED's demands are in response to offensive comments allegedly made by longtime Kriseman confidante and current St. Pete Chief of Policy and Public Engagement Kevin King via social-media messaging, as well as unspecified "anti-black policies" of the Kriseman administration.
The allegations that King sent offensive messages on the subject of homeless black men to a former friend were made during a City Council meeting last Thursday, causing the council to take an impromptu recess, according to a Tampa Bay Times account. Following the recess, Melissa Thorp spoke of explicit messages she claimed she received from King in 2014 saying he has "a slight obsession with homeless black men" and joking about starting "an organization called handjobs for homeless." Screenshots of the messages were provided to the Times; CL has not seen them.
King has been accused of crimes of a sexual nature before. He was arrested in 2001 and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor; he was never convicted and his record has been expunged, and King denies sending the messages, which reportedly included a picture of him shirtless in bed with an African-American man. The man has since been located by the Times, and denies ever being photographed with King.
Since the story broke, Kriseman has gone on the record as having no reason to disbelieve King's own denials.
Thorp will speak at CURED's 10 a.m. press conference tomorrow morning at City Hall (175 5th St. N.), along with CURED Chair Akile Anai and Vice Chair and former mayoral candidate Jesse Nevel.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2018.