A repentant San Francisco 49ers owner John York ventured into the heart of Chinatown on Tuesday expecting to be blitzed and pummeled.

And The City's Asian-American community did not let him down.

Two weeks after a 49ers training video mocking gays, Asians and Mayor Gavin Newsom was leaked to the media, York formally apologized to about 150 Asian-American community leaders and residents packed into the Chinese American Citizens Alliance hall.

York, who had already called dozens of Chinatown leaders to apologize, called the video "offensive, tasteless and stupid." He repeatedly said the video neither reflected team values nor the values of the York family. He said he was "struggling" with the fact that the tape was made despite sensitivity training. The creator of the video, former public relations director Kirk Reynolds, has resigned.

"We do have to look at ourselves, we do have to figure out how something like this happened," he said.

Speaker after speaker talked of how the video's stereotypical depiction of Asians as buck-toothed, bespectacled and speaking in broken English reinforced the sort of slurs and taunts that many immigrants, especially children, know well.

In introductory remarks, Yvonne Lee, a community advocate and former U.S. civil rights commissioner, said, "We join together to express our collective outrage."

Asian-American leaders chastised team management for fostering an atmosphere where such a demeaning training video was possible.

"I think what we're talking about is an environment that allowed corporate racism to exist," said Chinatown Community Development Center director Gordon Chin, who said he has been a Niners fan for 50 years.

Monster Cable president and founder Noel Lee, whose company won naming rights to the old Candlestick Park last year, said the tape brought back the "ridicule" he experienced growing up in the Inner Richmond.

"I thought that was behind me until I saw this video," said Lee.

Lance Toma, a Japanese-American gay man who married his partner during last year's gay marriages, said the video had "made a mockery of my life."

Others spoke of the Asian-American community's loyalty to the 49ers, pointing out that the Asian-American vote was instrumental in passing a 1997 $100 million lease-revenue bond issue for a new 49ers stadium.

"I walked precincts on behalf of that effort," said Police Commissioner Doug Chan.

But York also scored points for what Asian-Americans called a direct and honest apology.

"You get an ‘A plus' for confession," the Rev. Norman Fong told York. "Confession is the first step, but the next step is harder. That's repentance."

Supervisor Fiona Ma said the community would work with the team to build better relations.

"The 49ers are part of the San Francisco family, and when a family member does something wrong, we don't disown them," said Ma. "We give them an opportunity to make things right."