D.C. reporter Shomari Stone is making news of his own after delivering a sharp response to a critical viewer.
The seven-time Emmy winner and seasoned journalist certainly knows how to keep an audience engaged — so much so that some feel comfortable enough to challenge him directly on social media.
But Stone’s down-to-earth charm doesn’t mean he shies away from a gentle clapback.
It all began after he shared live footage from the most recent story on his social media page on Aug. 21.
Stone reported on 78-year-old Annie West, whose home security footage captured three men dumping mattresses on her property.
Relying on a walker and a cane, West had no physical way to clear the heavy junk herself.
But within days, attention shifted from the story to the reporter. Social media users flooded Stone’s comment section, with someone pressing him on why he didn’t personally move the debris: “Why you ain’t move it for her, Shomari?”
Setting the record straight, Stone fired back, “My job is to report the story, help identify who dumped them, and bring attention to the problem, not haul mattresses. You don’t ask the weatherman to shovel your driveway after he reports on the snow forecast.”
He doubled down in the post’s caption, writing, “Now, for those who tried to shame me for not personally hauling the mattresses away, I am a news anchor/reporter. I’m not auditioning for a moving company.”
Critics may have missed one key detail. Stone had already explained why he didn’t move the mattresses a day earlier in an Instagram video.
He started off with good news, saying, “I have an update for you. The mattresses are gone.”
According to him, a guy from a moving company messaged him after seeing the story and asked if he could help. But when he arrived, the mattresses were already gone.
As for critics who said he could have helped Ms. West, Stone gave four reasons why that was not possible for him.
He said, “I’m a reporter, I’m not a moving company, number one. Number two, I recently hurt my hip while I was exercising. Number three, I’m in a neighborhood, it’s dark out, I’m not lifting nobody’s mattresses.”
The fourth reason he gave was that there were cockroaches on the mattress.
“I am not bringing a cockroach into my house as a houseguest,” he said. “That is not going to happen.”
Stone noted in his follow-up post that West had called to thank him for running the story and helping her solve the problem.
Fans responded to Stone on his page with support. One person said, “Selective outrage he handled them respectfully.”
Another one typed, “You ate them up with that response.”
A third wrote, “All the internet warriors should’ve went down there to move it since they had so much to type about.”
The dumping took place in Hyattsville, Maryland around 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
Surveillance footage captured three men pulling up in a Chevy Silverado pickup truck. While the driver waited, two men in neon safety vests unloaded the mattresses, leaned them against West’s fence, and quickly drove off.
Adding to her frustration, West said county officials told her that local laws make her responsible for keeping the adjacent alley clean.
“So that mean anybody can come and dump all the dumps back there and we have to clean it? I don’t understand,” she said.
But with the combined efforts of Ms. West’s complaints and the news broadcasting her story, she was able to get it done.
