Video: Tito Ortiz roasted by constituent during city council swearing in ceremony

UFC Hall of Famer, and former light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz is working hard to transform his legacy from one of the most talented and recognizable fighters of his generation to a baseless conspiracy spewing right wing propagandist.

Ortiz’s current form was on full display this year, where he promoted and created content that trumpeted the fictional Qanon conspiracy and argued that the COVID-19 pandemic was either fake or a manipulated ‘population control’ event perpetrated by evil elites.

Despite spouting absolute nonsense at every given opportunity Ortiz was elected to a seat on the Huntington Beach city council this November. He was sworn in for that position yesterday.

Twitter user FullContactMTWF (aka Borrachinha Depot), who is the most dedicated and attentive Tito-watcher (and Schaub-watcher) on the internet, shared some footage from Ortiz’s swearing in ceremony.

The footage includes Ortiz’s first statements as a sworn in city councillor. After fumbling through a thank you message to voters, Ortiz said he was grateful for the opportunity to “speak in front of large groups”

Ortiz’s reference might have been a shot at California’s attempts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting social gatherings across the state. Ortiz followed up this comment by uttering the word ‘plandemic’.

At this time of writing COVID-19 has killed 20,466 Californians (1,633 in Tito’s own Orange County). 228 of those deaths were reported yesterday. 289,872 of California’s total 1,457,021 have been detected over the past 14 days. There has been a 99 percent increase in deaths in the state over the past 14 days (per New York Times).

Clearly not everyone in Huntington Beach has a nakedly politically influenced opinion on the virus as Ortiz. During public comments yesterday one citizen called in to express their concerns regarding Ortiz and the fantasy-based views he has on a very real, and very serious, situation.

“I think it’s important to inform the people and make sure that you are being a good example,” said the citizen (h/t bjpenn.com). “I do not think it is appropriate, for example, to claim that COVID is a form of population control or to cite a news article claiming that masks don’t work, which is based on a Danish study which says on its first page—and I quote—that it has ‘inconclusive evidence results, missing data, variable adherence, patient-reported findings on home tests, no blinding, and no assessment on whether masks can decrease the transmission from mask-wearers to others.’ That’s on the first page of a study that an incoming city council member cited on their Instagram page.

“Most of all, I think it’s important to respect the people that work for us in our city. I don’t think it’s respectful to say that ventilators cause COVID or to imply guilt on the part of our doctors and medical professionals. I also do not think it is respectful to not have the police wearing masks in crowded environments. It doesn’t cost that much to wear masks and I think it’s the bare minimum of respect to wear one when you’re in a large crowd of people downtown.”