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One of the state’s biggest landlord groups, the CT Coalition of Property Owners, has apologized after sending a press release to journalists statewide saying Gov. Ned Lamont “needs his ass kicked” and alleged that renters seeking state rental help are trying to “live for free.”

The comments were included in a press release about a rally against the state eviction moratorium scheduled for today.

“The eviction moratorium is not needed and there has never been any tsunami of evictions in any state that reopened their eviction courts and none will occur in CT,” the press release stated.

The release also said “[t]he governor needs his ass-kicked and we set up a celebratory cage fight between Lamont & Zherka to raise funds for orphaned children,” without specifying who “Zherka” is.

In a follow-up email to the Hartford Courant, group spokesperson Anne Baldwin said the comments “were never intended to be included in any press outreach.”

“This is not the way that any of the landlords who are truly suffering would want to be portrayed,” she said.

The state eviction moratorium ends July 20, and Lamont’s administration has set aside $400 million in federal relief money through the UniteCT program to pay rent and utilities bills that tenants who lost jobs or income during the pandemic were unable to pay.