{"id":49122,"date":"2026-07-10T13:28:55","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49122"},"modified":"2026-07-10T13:29:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T20:29:06","slug":"key-allies-abandon-owner-of-mannys-in-sf-after-sexual-assault-accusation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/key-allies-abandon-owner-of-mannys-in-sf-after-sexual-assault-accusation\/","title":{"rendered":"Key allies abandon owner of Manny’s in SF after sexual assault accusation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Madilynne Medina<\/a><\/strong>, News Reporter<\/em>July 8, 2026 (SFGate.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Manny Yekutiel and presidential candidate Tom Steyer during Steyer\u2019s appearance at Manny\u2019s in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.Scott Strazzante\/SF Chronicle via Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673 in the U.S.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prominent San Francisco activist and Mission District cafe owner is facing sexual assault allegations that have quickly eroded support for his campaign for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manny Yekutiel, who owns the popular cafe and events venue<\/a> named after himself on 16th Street in San Francisco, is accused of aggressively groping a local activist during a party at a home in 2020, the San Francisco Standard first reported<\/a>. Brad Joseph Chapin, a nonprofit worker and former Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club board member, came forward with the allegations against Yekutiel and filed a police report in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with SFGATE, Chapin said he was at a party at a home in February 2020 when Yekutiel allegedly assaulted him. He also detailed the allegations in the police report filed in April and viewed by SFGATE on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapin told SFGATE that when he first saw Yekutiel sitting alone at the party, he didn\u2019t immediately recognize him because Yekutiel looked like he \u201chadn\u2019t slept in several days.\u201d Chapin said Yekutiel then approached him and allegedly stuck his hand down Chapin\u2019s pants, \u201cforcibly\u201d grabbing Chapin\u2019s genitalia, causing intense pain and squeezing harder as Chapin tried to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time I tried to get away, he yanked and pulled and it was horrible,\u201d Chapin told SFGATE. He said he only knew Yekutiel through mutual friends and was startled and frightened by the alleged assault, which he described as \u201cviolent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a Monday Instagram video statement<\/a>, Yekutiel denied the allegations, saying he was accused of \u201cpretty terrible things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne, whenever someone accuses someone of something like this, they deserve to be heard and taken seriously. … I felt really bad that he felt this way, and I would never want to cause pain or hurt to anyone,\u201d Yekutiel said. \u201cBut the other thing I know to be true is that I didn\u2019t do this to him. I have gone out, I\u2019ve partied, and I\u2019ve been part of the city\u2019s queer nightlife scene, but I\u2019ve always tried to respect people\u2019s boundaries and treat people with respect as best as I can.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yekutiel also denied the allegations in a statement that Connor Skelly, a spokesperson for Yekutiel\u2019s campaign for District 8 supervisor, shared with SFGATE last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is being described did not happen. When he reached out to me, I told him directly that it didn\u2019t happen. He filed a police report, the police investigated and took no further action,\u201d Yekutiel\u2019s statement read. \u201cThey said they didn\u2019t even need to interview me. His account has changed more than once since. And now, after more than six years, he\u2019s raising it publicly for the first time, just as I\u2019ve entered this race. There\u2019s nothing here. I did not do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SFGATE reached out multiple times to the San Francisco Police Department requesting further details about the police report and the investigation into Chapin\u2019s allegations, including contacting multiple spokespeople and sending messages via phone and email. None of our inquiries yielded responses from either spokesperson Robert Rueca or spokesperson Evan Sernoffsky despite repeated messages to each specifically. According to a May 1 email from an SFPD investigator to Chapin that Chapin shared with SFGATE, the investigator was unable to \u201cbuild enough [probable] cause to move forward with criminal charges.\u201d The case \u201cwill remain open but be in an inactive status pending discovery of additional evidence,\u201d the investigator wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapin said he didn\u2019t report the alleged assault for years because he feared no one would believe him and because Yekutiel was well known in San Francisco\u2019s political circles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was so scared that people wouldn\u2019t believe me. I feel like 90% of the difficulty for coming forward about something like this, if there\u2019s no video evidence of it, is that you\u2019re gonna be accused of lying,\u201d he said. \u201c… It took everything in me not to say something, but also, I was so scared of the amount of power and influence he had, like his word against mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapin\u2019s breaking point, he said, was after he learned that Yekutiel is\u00a0one of four candidates<\/a>\u00a0running in the November election for supervisor of District 8,\u00a0an area<\/a>\u00a0that includes the Castro,\u00a0Noe Valley, Diamond Heights, Mission Dolores and Cole Valley. (The incumbent supervisor, Rafael Mandelman, is unable to run for reelection due to term limits.) When Yekutiel announced\u00a0his candidacy<\/a>\u00a0in September, Chapin said he \u201cshut down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could barely talk, unable to function, like I barely got out of bed, except for the things I needed to for a couple of weeks,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 If I didn\u2019t come forward, like, I would just be sitting worried.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ivy Lee, the director of the Mayor\u2019s Office for Victims\u2019 Rights, told the SF Standard that she spoke with Chapin and encouraged him to come forward with the report. She told the outlet the claims appeared to be credible and said she disagreed with Yekutiel\u2019s criticism of the timing of Chapin\u2019s allegations. Lee did not respond to SFGATE\u2019s repeated requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the SF Standard\u2019s report, Lee also called Yekutiel\u2019s response a \u201ctired and predictable playbook for alleged perpetrators,\u201d saying that they \u201cblame the victim, shame the victim\u201d and deny allegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapin pushed back on the implication that his allegations could be politically motivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis has nothing to do with his politics, and if it wasn\u2019t for this happening, for all I know, I could have been supporting him,\u201d Chapin said. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s no way on earth that I would subject myself to this amount of humiliation and embarrassment if it wasn\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet in his Monday statement, Yekutiel again suggested the accusations are related to his campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do think that what\u2019s happening here is an attempt to assassinate my character,\u201d he said. \u201cI was told at the beginning of this that politics in our city could get pretty nasty. And I definitely know that that\u2019s true. And I see that now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yekutiel has been a close ally of San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, even before Lurie was elected to the San Francisco office. Yekutiel and\u00a0Lurie co-founded a nonprofit initiative in 2023 called the Civic Joy Fund, CBS Bay Area previously\u00a0reported,<\/a>\u00a0which is a\u00a0program created<\/a>\u00a0to help clean and revitalize the city\u2019s streets post-pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On July 2, Lurie told the SF Standard<\/a> that he has \u201cno plans\u201d to endorse a candidate for the District 8 supervisorial seat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yekutiel\u2019s cafe, Manny\u2019s, has also become a center for civic gatherings, such as election watch parties and keynote speeches. However, the recent allegations have caused some people to withdraw from their appearances at Manny\u2019s and rescind their endorsements for his campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Jason Galisatus, a spokesperson for\u00a0state Senate candidate<\/a>\u00a0Christine Pelosi (daughter of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi), told SFGATE that Pelosi withdrew from an event at\u00a0Yekutiel\u2019s San Francisco cafe because of the allegations but did not provide further comment. According to the SF Standard, Rudy Gonzalez, San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council secretary-treasurer,\u00a0also withdrew<\/a>\u00a0from the event for the same reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offices of Rep. Lateefah Simon, who represents the East Bay, Attorney General Rob Bonta and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar all confirmed to SFGATE that they have pulled their endorsements of Yekutiel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI was not previously aware of the sexual assault allegations against Manny Yekutiel. It is incredibly important that victims in any situation have the ability to come forward and are supported after,\u201d Simon said in a statement shared with SFGATE. \u201cFollowing this news, I have since retracted my endorsement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapin said his main hope is that people ultimately believe his account and that people who have experienced sexual assault feel more comfortable coming forward in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat does justice look like for me has nothing to do with Manny,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat justice looks like for me is just to genuinely be believed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More News<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sign up for SFGATE’s breaking news email<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 8, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Madilynne Medina<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

News Reporter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madilynne Medina is a news reporter for SFGATE. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she earned a B.S. in journalism from San Jose State, where she served as executive editor for the Spartan Daily, and has also worked at NBC Bay Area. When she\u2019s not out in the field reporting, she\u2019s likely trying a new workout or listening to The Weeknd. You can contact her at madilynne.medina@sfgate.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Madilynne Medina, News ReporterJuly 8, 2026 (SFGate.com) Manny Yekutiel and presidential candidate Tom Steyer during Steyer\u2019s appearance at Manny\u2019s in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.Scott Strazzante\/SF Chronicle via Getty Images Editor\u2019s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help,… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1878],"tags":[2177],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49124,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49122\/revisions\/49124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}