A TikTok showed racist and homophobic comments made to two students in California. The couple, who were eating at an In-N-Out, looked stunned. The video quickly went viral. A man was later arrested on two counts of committing a hate crime, authorities said Monday. Loading Something is loading.
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A man has been arrested in connection with a viral TikTok video that featured racial and homophobic slurs, according to a statement released Monday by the San Ramon Police Department in California.
The man, identified as 40-year-old Denver resident Jordan Douglas Krah, was arrested on two counts of committing a hate crime and remains in custody at the Martinez Detention Center, according to the news release. Insider was unable to reach Krah for comment.
—San Ramon Police (@SanRamonPolice) December 27, 2022
The TikTok video was posted on December 25 by a user named Arine Kim. It shows two people trying menu items and rating them when one person, who is not visible in the clip, can be heard saying, “Are they filming themselves eating? They’re gay freaks.”
The two people look stunned at the person who asks if they are Japanese or Korean. When one of them replies “Korean,” she replied, “That’s what I thought. You’re Kim Jong Un’s boyfriend.”
Towards the end of the video, the person can be heard saying that they are “waiting outside” for them, as the friends giggle. The video quickly went viral. At the time of writing, it has over 12 million views.
Police officers described the comments as “unprovoked” and labeled them a “homophobic racist rant.” They said it took place at an In-N-Out in San Ramón on Christmas Eve.
San Ramon Police Chief Denton Carlson opened an investigation into the incident and several hours later announced the arrest.
“The San Ramon Police Department strives to ensure that everyone in our community is safe and welcome. We will continue to take swift and diligent legal action against acts of hate to help create an inclusive place for all to live, work and visit.” said the press release said.
The San Ramon Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
In a follow-up TikTok video responding to the arrest, Kim said the man was waiting for them outside the In-N-Out and “stared at us through the window for 10 minutes.”
“We just stayed in our seats and didn’t move because we were afraid that if we moved, he would use that as an invitation to harass us further,” he added.
Kim said they plan to press charges and expressed gratitude for the kindness in the comments section of the video, adding, “The amount of outrage being expressed…it honestly warms my heart.”
“I caught this incident on video, but you have to think of the tens and thousands of people in the US who don’t capture these types of incidents on video,” he said.
Hate crimes against Asian American communities have increased in recent years, rising 339% last year compared to 2020, a report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism showed, according to The Guardian.
Source: news.google.com