Photo: Getty Images
Alex O’Keefe, the award-winning screenwriter behind FX’s The Bear, said he was removed from a Metro-North train and arrested after a white woman complained about the way he was sitting.
On Sunday (September 21), O'Keefe took to Instagram to detail the incident, sharing footage from his encounter with police who responded to the white woman's complaint.
“I was arrested on the @MTA train to Connecticut today, pulled off, handcuffed, and detained,” O’Keefe wrote. “You're gonna arrest the one Black dude on the train, because this white woman said she didn't like the way I was sitting.”
One video shows O’Keefe filming police officers and the elderly white woman who made the complaint.
“You call the police to arrest the one Black dude on the train,” he said in the video. “I haven't done anything illegal.”
After boarding the train, O'Keefe said the woman immediately told him to correct how he was sitting, to which he refused. The woman then complained to the conductor, who stopped the train and called the police.
“The police told me to leave the train, I refused and asked what was I doing illegally,” O’Keefe wrote. “They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train. They pulled me off the train and arrested me without even talking to the Karen who reported the one black person on the train.”
The screenwriter said he was detained and interrogated on the platform.
“Only Black folks stayed nearby and recorded the arrest,” O'Keefe said. “When I demanded a lawyer and reminded them they didn't even take a statement from the woman who complained, they eventually released me.”
O'Keefe also claimed the woman’s friend told him, “You're not the minority anymore.”
The MTA hasn't publicly responded to the incident.
Social media users expressed outrage over the incident and support for O'Keefe.
"I'm sorry this happened to you ! This is beyond humiliating and awful. I hope you find justice and make noise!!" one person commented.
"Sue the train company and police for violating your rights," an Instagram user said.
"'Correct how you are sitting' is insane," a third user pointed out.
The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HERE to tune in live.