Fort Worth Councilman addresses leaked 2022 recording accusing mayor, council of racism

A Fort Worth city council member is responding after a recording of what he calls a private conversation from 2022 was posted to social media.

In the audio, District Eight councilman Chris Nettles appears to accuse multiple city council members and the mayor of racism.

NBC 5 spoke with Nettles and the woman who says she shared the audio for political reasons. 

In a TikTok video posted Monday, a woman named Payton Jackson shared audio she said was recorded during a conversation with Fort Worth councilman Chris Nettles in 2022.

Jackson filed to run for Congress in Texas’s 33^rd district as an independent candidate but was disqualified, saying the state found she did not collect enough signatures to appear on the ballot in November’s election.

She told NBC 5 that she released the audio because Nettles endorsed another candidate in that race.

NBC 5 will not air the video or audio, as it cannot be independently verified whether it has been edited.

When we called Chris Nettles on Monday evening to ask about the video, he told NBC 5 that he believed a portion of the video may have been altered with AI.

“Recently, a recording from two years ago of a private conversation I had was released without my knowledge or consent,” Nettles said in a statement. “I want to acknowledge that this recording, which may have been heavily edited, was made during a deeply emotional time for me.”

“I was grappling with the realization that the council would not have the votes to approve the creation of a police oversight board,” he continued. “While I may have expressed frustration in that moment, I want to be clear: I do not believe my fellow council members are racist.”

“This recording appears to be a deliberate attempt to damage my reputation, but I remain committed to serving the people of Fort Worth,” Nettles said.

NBC 5 reached out to the Fort Worth mayor’s office for a response to the video.

“Leadership means you attack problems, not people,” said Mattie Parker. “Fort Worth deserves better. As for the rest of the video, questions need to be directed to councilmember Nettles.”

NBC 5 asked Payton Jackson to speak over the phone but she requested to answer written questions instead.

We asked if she was the one speaking with Nettles during the recorded conversation heard in the video.

Jackson replied that she was and that she had been a member of Nettles’s 2021 campaign for Fort Worth city council.

NBC 5 asked if any part of the video had been altered, including with AI, and she said, “Absolutely not.”

We asked Jackson why she posted the video on Monday.

“Any Democrat that attempted to interfere with the District 33 election will be exposed and/or publicly criticized in 2025,” Jackson responded.