An African American dentist from Ohio named Jaylon Johnson, who recently graduated and was celebrating his achievements, sadly got his parade rained on after a fellow dentist left a comment that many have considered racist on his social media profile. In response, Dr. Johnson called out his colleague on social media, leading to fierce backlash.
The interaction occurred earlier in September on Dr. Johnson’s TikTok account, aka Dr. J or jaynoz_. Johnson recently graduated back in May and received his Doctor of Medicine degree in Dentistry at the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine, and was naturally celebrating since he was the first dentist in his family and was also class president.
For some reason, a random fellow dentist, identified as Dr. Nicholas Amigoni, aka buoniimpianti (TikTok), commented on one of Johnson’s celebratory videos, saying, “You are a dentist? Dude you are ghetto.” The comment has left Johnson at least visibly bothered and prompted a witty response: “Apparently, I forgot to put ‘not ghetto’ on my resume.”
Johnson also added that Amigoni’s remark proves, “This type of comment definitely shows why representation is important in healthcare.” As a challenge to Amigoni’s “ghetto” remark, “I want you to know, I’m still a dentist… You will respect what it took for me to get here.” Thankfully, Johnson also wished no ill will upon Amigoni, though he did point out which establishments his older colleague worked for.
Dr. Amigoni Apologized and Explained, But Couldn’t Handle the Backlash
Dr. Johnson’s video has since gained millions of views across multiple social media platforms, leading to a horde of messages directly to Dr. Amigoni, which likely compelled the latter to apologize. Amigoni stated that his comment “was never intended to be hate speech or racist… That was a poor choice of words on my part, and I take accountability for that.”
Despite Amigoni’s explanation, however, the outrage against him grew swiftly and relentlessly, with many people suggesting certain sanctions. One TikTok commenter asked, “Can we report him to a board?” while another thought, “I wonder how he treats black and brown patients.” Some commenters went even further, claiming they had reported Amigoni to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).
Others bombarded the places where Dr. Amigoni was employed with low Google reviews, with one commenter from Germany even chiming in, suggesting, “Do not recommend for anybody to go to a Racist !!!”
It also appears Dr. Amigoni had to either delete, deactivate, or hide some of his social media accounts after an apology due to the overwhelming backlash he received. “Calling locs ghetto is literally just racism,” one TikTok user argued, something Dr. Johnson agreed with, “No ifs, ands, or buts about it.” In any case, Dr. Johnson received overwhelming support for his recent achievements
