California Politician Chris Platzer Resigns After Throwing Cat, Drinking Beer During Zoom Meeting

A Vallejo, California politician has resigned from his job after apparently throwing his cat and drinking beer during a town meeting that was conducted over Zoom, San Jose’s KNTV reports.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Vallejo Planning Commission has been holding meetings via the online conferencing platform, as have businesses, local governing bodies, schools, and just about any other industry that requires groups of people sharing ideas in the same space.

Back on April 20, the governing body held its meeting, which was made public. At several points during the call, planning commissioner Chris Platzer appeared to behave unprofessionally.

For example, he could be seen drinking from a green bottle that seemed to be a bottle of beer. At another point, he could be heard speaking inappropriately as well.

“I’m going to call bullsh*t on you little b*tches,” he said.

But it was his “introduction” of his cat that seems to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. At one point during the meeting, Platzer showed the feline to the screen.

“I’d like to introduce my cat,” he stated, before appearing to toss the animal off-screen.

Video of the incident can be seen below. Platzer is the speaker on the bottom-left.

https://youtu.be/yHTvBDer2-c

As the New York Post reports, not long after that Zoom call, the City Council started putting into motion plans to have him removed from the commission.

However, Platzer resigned before that could happen.

In an email, he admitted his behavior during the meeting wasn’t in keeping with what was expected of a politician.

“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. 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 a new normalcy,” he said.

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan noted that meetings should be conducted with decorum, stating that someone interested in developing in the Vallejo area might reconsider after seeing how the city’s politicians behave.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, some Zoom meetings have also had a more sinister problem than just participants acting out of turn. Several such meetings have been bombarded by violent and abusive trolls who have exploited holes in the platform’s security.