Bronx, NY – Days after posting a video on Facebook ridiculing a small Chasidic boy for his haircut, the man who shot the footage has issued a second video, this one with a two minute long apology for his actions.
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The video in question shows a small, unsmiling Chasidic boy with a freshly shaven head and long payos, with a man presumed to be Quai James of the Bronx who posted the video on Facebook, ripping into the child over his haircut. Both the identity of the child and the location of the video are unknown at this time.
“I’d cry if I looked like that too, bro,” said an adult voice in the background before continuing his vulgarity-laden tirade against the youngster.
The Jerusalem Post (https://bit.ly/2jHOVUr ) showed a screenshot of the Facebook post which bore the words “Had to really let my son know how I felt about the whole Haircut. Pray for the little Homie.”
According to The Jerusalem Post, the Facebook post originally contained the words “Jewish Haircut,” but was amended to remove the word “Jewish.” Facebook later removed the post amid complaints from users.
Making its way to Twitter, the video was retweeted on Saturday night by a user named @_LoveMeSomeJess where it was retweeted nearly 40,000 times, received approximately 100,000 likes and viewed by approximately two million viewers before it was removed by Twitter. Comments on @_LoveMeSomeJess ranged from hysterical laughter to others expressing outrage.
“In 2018 we’re still mocking little kids and ridiculing them in front of the world for something they have no choice about and “screamingggg” w laughter and getting 50k likes?” tweeted user Dellavedova Facts.
Below video apology posted today by Quai James.
Also expressing outrage was Councilman Brad Lander who categorized the video as a display of “gross anti-Semitism” and tweeted “Critical to push back against this small-minded & dehumanizing hate.”
A Twitter account belonging to James posted a nearly two and a half minute apology today. In it, James said that he never meant for anyone to get hurt and that he had no hatred in his heart for Jews.
“I have nothing against them, trust me. They done been through too much, too much. We’ve been through as much as they’ve been through. They’ve been through worse. I don’t have no issues with Jewish people. I respect them 100%,” said James.
James described himself in his apology as a community minded person who likes to give back.
A GoFundMe campaign started by James last July raised $530 for an effort to prepare sandwiches, juice, fruit and chocolate chip cookies to feed the homeless in the Bronx.
In the campaign description, James said that he had been packing ten sandwiches a day from his own earnings, but was hoping for others to join in the effort in order to provide food for an even larger number of people.
Taking responsibility for what he termed a joke gone horribly wrong, James said that the video was the most immature one he had ever recorded.
“It’s my fault that I didn’t think about this while I was doing it, before I even did it,” said James. “I shoulda been more considerate and more open to other people’s feelings.”
Continuing his apology, James expressed remorse for bullying a small child, something he said was completely out of character for him and that he has been unable to get the incident out of his mind.
“Sometimes we make decisions in the heat of the moment and they may hurt people without knowing that, but that’s not even an excuse,” said James. “It’s just a form of bullying.”
Lander said that he was pleased to see James take responsibility for his actions.
“It seemed to be a sincere apology and it felt like someone who has come to see how abominable what he did was and is grappling with it,” Lander told VIN News. “Rarely in these cases of online hatred and bullying do you see a situation where someone reflects on their won behavior, acknowledges it and does something about it.”
Particularly disturbing to Lander was the anti-Hasidic bias that was evident, both in the video and the response to it on social media.
“My heart felt a little lighter watching the apology, but it still remains so heavy with the knowledge that 100,000 liked the video,” said Lander.
can you imagine if someone made fun of braids what would happen? holder, lynch and others would’ve brought hate crime charges.
I don’t get offended if a junkyard dog insults me.
Quai, Wow so impressed with your maturity and sensitivity. So much to learn from you and this story. What you did may have been insensitive toward a child but clearly you had no antisemetic intentions. People tend to make fun of “others” especially if they look different. That doesn’t mean they are racist (I am an Orthodox Jew and I’ve made jokes abt the way chasidic people look). Yet, instead of defending your actions, as most people would, you owned up to the insesensitivty and gave an amazing heartfelt apology. Wish I could be on that level. We can all learn from you brother. Keep your head up!
Now if only Flatbush Girl would apologize to klal yisrael as well…. How come we don’t hear anyone complaining about her? She insults us on a daily basis.
And what about his choice of a head covering? And, oh yes, what about all the black men walking around with their pants below their boxers?! You need to do more than apologize sir!
#3 well said, but I’m not so sure his first description of the boy was “insensitive”. I doubt if I or my kids would really “want” to have a haircut like that even if it was our Minhag.
He realized his error, he apologized, he seems like a wonderful person that just made a mistake, time to move on. Nothing here.