A video from a New Orleans, Louisiana, man is picking up steam on Reddit, with hundreds of thousands watching as he talks about a disturbing moment at a 2017 Trump rally in Orlando. He says he was working as an AV tech in Orlando. According to him, he and a Black coworker stepped out of their work van at the rally grounds and immediately faced a crowd chanting a racial slur in unison. That moment, he says, changed him forever.
In the video, he explains he worked for an AV company hired to set up the rally, and only found out about the event when his project manager pulled him and his colleague aside before they arrived, warning them about what sort of situation they were about to walk into.
The man describes how, the day before the rally, his project manager asked him and the other Black employee, who was described as an older man in his early thirties, if they were comfortable with the assignment by calling them into a private office. They both agreed. Without any problems, they completed the setup.
The crew went back to the location the next day to disassemble the equipment. He claims that even before anything happened, he was unnerved by the sheer size and makeup of the crowd because he did not see any Black or Hispanic people among the “ocean” of people crammed into the hangar.
He and his colleague were positioned at the back of the van because they were taller than the other crew members. The final two to leave were them. The man claims that as soon as they emerged, a sizable portion of the crowd that was still inside the hangar started loudly and repeatedly chanting a racial slur at them.
The Louisiana resident claims that after noticing that he was younger and clearly shocked, his more experienced coworker gave him a straightforward reminder that they still had work to do. The man claims that he has never forgotten how it sounded. In the video, he states, “Sometimes when it’s too quiet in a space, I’ll hear it in the back of my head.”
Internet Reacts to Louisiana Man’s Account of Racial Slur Chanting at Trump Rally
Several responses focused on the psychological weight of what he described. “The biggest piece of this story that hurts me is that it hurt you so bad that you can still hear the chanting at times,” one person wrote. Some viewers focused on the emotional impact of the experience, with one writing, “That’s literally PTSD.“ And these people leave to go to their homes, hug their dogs, laugh, and act like nothing happened.“ Some viewers connected the story to broader political discussions.”
One response pushed back on the framing of the word he used to describe himself. “Doesn’t sound radicalized at all, sounds like a normal reaction to evil,” a commenter wrote. Another acknowledged the painful internal contradiction: “Sadly, many ignorant Black brothers are still supporting MAGA.”
The video strikes a chord because it depicts what it’s like to be a Black worker inside a political event, not as a protestor or an attendee, but as someone merely carrying out their duties. The video is gaining attention and prompting a wide range of reactions among viewers.
