The former mayor of Baltimore and current Democratic mayoral candidate Sheila Dixon was doing an interview from her home with WBFF Fox45 News when an unidentified man threw clothes at her during the live show on Dec. 20.
The Baltimore Banner reports that Dixon was being interviewed by reporter Patrice Sanders live from her home via Zoom when the man began to throw clothes at the 69-year-old. The man also yelled at Dixon as she tried to answer Sanders’ questions.
A video of the interview was shared on TikTok by @poshgirltina with the caption, “Shelia Dixon on live TV. Obviously scared! Welcome to Baltimore! This is crazy.” The video was also captioned, “Sheila Dixon is being interviewed on live tv and her husband/bf ? Is fighting with her and throwing stuff at her head.”
Dixon was the mayor of Baltimore from 2007 until 2010 and is currently a candidate for the 2024 Democratic nomination. Sanders was interviewing her about her public safety town hall with Councilman Eric Costello later that evening. The former mayor was nursing a cold as she answered Sanders’ questions while several articles of clothing could be seen landing on Dixon as she tried to maneuver the camera.
Sanders asked Dixon what her message to the public was regarding their concerns about crime in the city.
“So three things,” replied Dixon. “One, people don’t feel safe, people are afraid. Carjackings, theft, stealing cars … and people want to see the presence of officers in their community engaged with them, walking the beat, talking to them, getting to know the residents and that’s not happening.”
At that point, the man threw a clothing item at Dixon’s head as she continued. “Yesterday I saw police officers that were in an area, but they were in their cars, not doing what they need to do.” The man could also be heard yelling at Dixon as he threw more clothes at her. At one point, Sanders asked, “There’s a lot of feedback there. Are you hearing my questions?”
Dixon replied, “Yes,” before Sanders ended the interview with, “We hear that you’re fighting through this, um, so we’re going to let you conserve your voice and we’ll see you tonight.”
After the video was shared on TikTok, several users weighed in. One user condemned Sanders for not asking if Dixon was OK. “Patrice Sanders should be ashamed of herself not asking if she was ok I’m most definitely not ever watching this station again.”
“This is extremely sad. He needs to be arrested. If he’s doing that on live tv imagine what he’ll no with no cameras,” noted another TikTok user.
WBFF Fox45 hosted the town hall later that evening, and reporter Mikenzie Frost asked Dixon if she was OK following the morning interview. “I wanted to make sure if everything was OK with you and if you could respond,” said Frost.
“Everything is OK,” replied Dixon. “People are in pain. It’s the holiday, people are stressed. You know, we have challenges in the family, in your partnership and relationships. And sometimes people don’t know how to express their stress. So, I’m fine.”
