According to The Newport Daily News, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was verbally accosted at a Barnes & Noble on Friday during a signing event for his new book, “The Briefing: Politics, the Press and The President.”
During the signing, which took place in Middletown, Rhode Island, an African American man named Alex Lombard got Spicer’s attention, shouting “Sean!”
Spicer waved, and replied: “Hey!”
LOMBARD: Sean, I was a day student at [Portsmouth] Abbey, too, with you.
SPICER: Yes, how are you?
LOMBARD: Remember? Yeah. Don’t remember that you tried to fight me?
At this moment, people in the crowd began to laugh, appearing to believe that Lombard was sharing a joke, or simply messing with Spicer. Then things took a decidedly negative turn:
“Yeah. No, but you called me a n***** first, right? Remember? Remember? You called me a n***** first, Sean.” Lombard said.
Following that remark, two men turned to Lombard, and began escorting him away from the signing — but he wasn’t finished, adding: “I was fourteen! I was a scared kid then, Sean! I’m not scared to fight you now!”
Here’s the full video (WARNING: Strong Language):
According to publicist Lauren McCue of Regnery Publishing, Spicer “can’t recall” the alleged incident Lombard described.