Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston says he won’t apologize for obscene gesture during meeting

By Katie Nielsen

One Oakland city council member is defending his behavior after a heated exchange during the discussion regarding the city’s use of Flock license plate reader cameras.

It happened last night with District 7 representative Ken Houston.

“I wanted to finish because if they can come out deep, we can come out deep too, and I wanted to find out — Excuse me! Let me finish what I’m saying. Shut up,” said Oakland City Council President Kevin Jenkins last night during the meeting.

The interaction with Jenkins is part of the reason why Councilmember Ken Houston is facing criticism today. But words aren’t the only reason Houston is under fire.

He was caught on camera, apparently giving the middle finger to a speaker during public comment.

“Want to give a big shout out to Ken Houston. Do you think we didn’t notice you flipping off the audience from your seat just now?” said an unidentified speaker. 

“Did you intentionally flip someone off during the council meeting?” CBS News Bay Area reporter Katie Nielsen asked Houston during an exclusive interview about Tuesday night’s meeting. 

“Not on purpose, but now that it’s done? Yes, I did. Because I’m always like this, and this dude was, and I was like, ‘Is he filming me? OK. Whatever,'” said Houston. 

He’s referring to this clip posted to X by a blogger who goes by the name “The Oakland Observer.” Houston said people who live in his district elected him specifically because of his confrontational style.

“The people that voted me in office voted me to be who I am, and that’s what I’m going to be, and if they don’t like it, recall me, because I don’t give a rip,” says Houston. 

He said he has no reason to apologize for anything that happened during the meeting, because he says the criticism he’s facing isn’t coming from within his district.

“They’re not my constituents. I don’t care what they say. I don’t give a rip what they say. I’m not a politician, and I’m not going to let people talk down to me or talk to me like I’m nothing, because if they can say F me. I’m going to say F you too,” Houston said.

Councilmember Carroll Fife said she’s known Houston for more than 20 years and talked with him as recently as last week about the level of professionalism needed for the office.

“It’s mirroring what’s happening at the federal level, with the level of discourse, and I don’t think we should engage in that way. I don’t want to see Trump-style conversation tactics seep into Oakland,” said Fife. 

She said while she believes Houston genuinely wants what’s best for the city, she worries his behavior is a distraction.

“It’s unfortunate that this is the topic of discussion, and not how Oakland is growing,” said Fife. 

Houston said his unorthodox style is what’s allowed him to get so much done during his first year in office. He even posted the video of this confrontation to his Instagram page.

“We got people out here from Portland trying to tell us in East Oakland what to do. They better get out of my face, I tell you that. I’m just letting you know. You in the wrong place, [expletive] with me.  Are you threatening us? I don’t give a [expletive]. You’re a [expletive] elected official!”

“You’re not just going to bully me and think I’m going to be, ‘Oh, you’re a politician, you’re supposed to accept that.’ No, I’m not. And if they don’t like me. Recall me. Recall me. If they don’t like it, because my community is not going to allow it to happen,” said Houston. 

CBS News Bay Area reached out to the city of Oakland to ask if there were any formal complaints made against Houston after Tuesday night’s council meeting. A representative said there were no complaints made to the City Administrator’s office, and they were still waiting to hear back from the Public Ethics Commission.