A white man who allegedly called a Black man a racial slur refused to own up to his words when confronted, a viral video shows.
The video posted by “4th Quarter Podcast” on TikTok shows a white man using a desktop computer at the Eastside Library in Santa Barbara, California, while he is being confronted by a Black man who’s encouraging him to repeat what he said before the camera started rolling.
“Say it again. Touch my what?” The Black man asks, but the other man appears to swat away his phone to the ground.
“You just smacked my phone. What did you call me, a monkey? You just call me a monkey,” as he follows around the white man in the library, who hastily searches for the exit.
“Come here. Let me talk to you. What you call me a monkey? Why did you smack my phone?” the Black man asks, but the white continues to speed walk around the library, refusing to look back or answer any questions.
The scene causes a disturbance in the library, prompting staff to attempt to intervene.
“Can you talk outside? Why you keep running, talking all that sh—? Why are you running then? Why you smack my phone? Can we go outside and talk,” the Black man says.
“Get the f—k away from me,” the white man replies.
“Okay, can you go outside and talk like men? Why can you stop running? Can you stop running? You call me a monkey, right? Say it again,” the Black man says.
“You is,” the white man says without looking back.
“Okay, so I’m a monkey, right? I’m a monkey, right? What’s up? I’m a monkey, right? What’s up?” The Black man yells as the white man bolts through he exit doors and takes off running.
The Black man recording then chases the white man around the neighborhood and back into the library, where he cowers and apologizes.
“Apologize now. Apologize!”
“I’m sorry,” the white man says.
“Call me a monkey again, and see what happens,” the Black man yells.
A female library worker then pulls the Black man’s arm to pull him away from the scene.
The video garnered over 46,000 views on TikTok and was reshared and viewed thousands of other times on other social media platforms. Many thought the interaction was amusing.
“Got lots to say when he feels like he’s safe from an actual confrontation. He’s lucky you walked away. Also, it was infuriating how the employees were focused on you and not him. So sick of it all,” one TikTok viewer wrote. “He forgot he wasn’t on social media,” an X user wrote.
