City Council candidate Jeffery ‘Jay’ Young has a history of offensive social media posts

Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr., a lawyer who is running unopposed for a North Philadelphia-based City Council seat, has a history of offensive social media posts, insulting women, Asian Americans, and other groups.

“Dear Chinese Stores, we don’t eat dog, cat, or rat here in America, on purpose at least,” Young posted on Twitter in 2013.

In 2012, Young tweeted, “I swear I hate bitches. Now I gotta here this chick mouth about how she was right.”

Young is poised to become something of an accidental Council member after all of his would-be opponents in the 5th District race were deemed ineligible to run due to flaws with their nominating petitions.

» READ MORE: How Jay Young rose from a high-school intern in City Hall to a lawyer poised to succeed Darrell Clarke on Philadelphia City Council

Candidates for office often have their social media histories scrubbed of potentially embarrassing posts before they enter the spotlight. That was not the case for Young, a prolific Twitter user who has authored thousands of social media posts.

Young’s sudden entry into the public arena is a consequence of Council President Darrell L. Clarke delaying his long-awaited decision about whether to run for reelection. Clarke, who represents that district, instead announced he was retiring, and candidates hoping to replace him — including his former chief of staff Curtis Wilkerson, who Clarke hoped would be his successor — had a matter of days to collect nominating signatures to make the ballot.

Only Young, who is also a former Clarke staffer but did not wait for his former boss’ permission to begin collecting signatures, made the cut. He’s now all but certain to win the 5th District without a fight, although it’s possible a write-in candidate could defeat him in the May 16 primary or the Nov. 7 general election.

» READ MORE: Darrell Clarke’s departure opens the door to a major leadership shakeup on City Council

After The Inquirer asked about his past posts, Young on Wednesday made his account private, meaning that only followers he approves can see what he writes on Twitter.

“Had a feeling tweets from almost 15 years ago would resurface,” Young posted after closing off his account to the public.

Young, 36, was in his mid-20s when he posted many of the offensive tweets, and in an interview he blamed them on his youth.

“I tweeted a lot of stuff back then, not knowing what my future would be as a 23-year-old or 24-year-old,” Young said.

To be fair to Young, like many Twitter users, he posted about nearly every other topic under the sun while authoring nearly 17,000 posts – musing about the pleasures of long walks on spring days, his interest in Center City Sips, and various everyday ruminations.

“I hate when teabags open up in my tea. That was a waste of $1.08,” he wrote back in 2014.

Young’s social media posts have also become more tame over the years, but in January, he responded to another user who posted, “Men that act like females <<<<<<,” by saying, “That’s what happened when men raised by a bunch of women.”

Derogatory comments on women were a consistent theme across many of Young’s tweets.

“Ur not a whore, you just have a friendly vagina,” Young wrote, seemingly to no one in particular, in 2011.

In 2012, he posted, “I see why professional black dudes marry white women. Their crazy is way less then black women crazy. Lol”