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Concert promoter apologizes for using 'you people' in discussion with Toledo City Council

Hunter Brucks, who wants to take over management of the city's summer concert series, issued a statement Monday saying that he didn't mean anything derogatory.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Editor's note: The above video originally aired on Sept. 25.

Local concert promoter Hunter Brucks has issued an apology for his language during a recent Toledo City Council meeting.

During a Sept. 25 meeting in which council members were discussing whether Brucks should take over managing the annual summer concert series in Promenade Park, Brucks became agitated by questions from a WTOL 11 reporter about his business background.

After the meeting, Brucks turned to a group of council members behind him and said, "It's all this negative. This guy is drilling me down in the dirt here. I'm only trying to do something good for you people.”

Councilwoman Cerssandra McPherson responded by calling out Brucks' language.

“You people? Oh no," she said.

Brucks quickly replied “that's not what I meant.”

On Monday, Brucks' issued a statement saying he was misunderstood and taken out of context.

"To be clear, my intention was to mean, 'the people of Toledo' in stating that my hope was to bring entertainment and something good, successful and worthwhile in the long run to the community of Toledo, through the Promenade Concert Series," his statement read. 

"I would never intentionally make a statement of disrespect to Black members of this community and People of Color in this community, and I am deeply unsettled in knowing that my words were received as disrespectful and discriminatory in any way. I am sincerely sorry to anyone I caused to feel this way through my actions and words," the statement went on to say.

McPherson dismissed the statement Monday as a non-apology.

"That's not an apology," she said. "I believe this is not his first time using that expression."

McPherson also said she rejects the notion that she or others in the council chambers misunderstood Brucks' intent when he made the statement.

McPherson said serious questions remain -- even beyond concerns about Brucks' remark to council -- about his ability to pull off the concert series. Brucks' plan to install 3,800 permanent seats in Promenade Park, as well as his plan to put up fencing around the park, are non starters, she said.

Another major concern, McPherson said, is Brucks' refusal to share financial information about his company with city council to prove that he can actually deliver the concert series he is promising.

"If he can't show the financials to show he can afford to do this, we should not vote for it," she said.

Brucks and HBC Management, the company behind failed amphitheater projects in Waterville and Rossford, are seeking a license from the city to put on a minimum of 10 concerts. In exchange, Brucks will pay the city $10 and he and his company will assume full responsibility for the event. The license would be good for one year, after which it would be reevaluated for renewal. 

Brucks has pitched his plan as a potential replacement for the summer concert series originated and sponsored by ProMedica for the last seven years. As the regional health-care company has had financial difficulties, ProMedica has cut the number of concerts and asked both Toledo City Council and Lucas County to help fund the event this year.

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