The man who filmed his encounter with a woman in Central Park says her actions were 'definitely racist,' but he's asking people to stop making death threats against her
- Christian Cooper, who recorded a white woman in Central Park calling the police on him after he asked her to put a leash on her dog, says that the woman's actions were "definitely racist."
- The woman, Amy Cooper, who has no relation to Christian Cooper, has issued several apologies after video of the incident circulated on Twitter.
- Christian Cooper told CNN that he thinks Amy Cooper's apology is sincere, and he has asked people to stop making death threats toward her.
Christian Cooper, who filmed a video of a white woman calling the police on him in New York's Central Park over Memorial Day Weekend, told CNN that her actions were "definitely racist," but he wants people to stop making death threats against her.
Amy Cooper, who has no relation to Christian Cooper, issued multiple apologies on Monday after a video circulated on Twitter in which she can be heard telling the police there's "an African American man threatening my life," after Christian Cooper asked her to put her dog on a leash.
"I think her apology is sincere," Christian Cooper told CNN on Tuesday night. "I'm not sure that in that apology she recognizes that while she may not be or consider herself a racist, that particular act was definitely racist."
He said Amy Cooper had "a moment of spectacularly poor judgment."
"Is she a racist? I can't answer that," Christian Cooper told CNN. "Only she can answer that. And I would submit probably the only way she's going to answer that is going forward. How she conducts herself and, you know, how she chooses to reflect on this situation and examine it."
Since the video made headlines around the nation, Amy Cooper has given up her dog to an animal rescue organization, and was fired from her job at the global investment firm Franklin Templeton.
Christian Cooper told The New York Times that he was "uncomfortable" with the backlash Amy Cooper is facing, and was surprised hear she lost her job.
He urged people not to make death threats toward Amy Cooper in the aftermath of the incident.
"I am told there has been death threats and that is wholly inappropriate and abhorrent and should stop immediately," Christian Cooper told CNN. "I find it strange that people who were upset that ... that she tried to bring death by cop down on my head, would then turn around and try to put death threats on her head. Where is the logic in that? Where does that make any kind of sense?"
- Read more:
- The man who filmed his racially charged encounter with a woman in Central Park says he is 'uncomfortable' that she has become a hate figure and lost her job
- The white woman who called 911 after a black bird-watcher asked her to leash her dog has 'voluntarily surrendered' her pet to an animal rescue
- A white woman who called the police on a black man telling her to put her dog on a leash says she's 'not a racist'
- A New York woman who called the police and falsely claimed that there was an 'African-American man threatening her life' said her actions were 'unacceptable'