A Minnesota man took to YouTube to highlight racist bullying against his 11-year-old adopted daughter. But his video also led to another man losing his job after allegedly excusing his children's vulgar remarks, KMSP-TV reported.
In the video, posted on Monday, Brad Knudson shows footage of two minors calling his daughter, Deirdra, a "slut," a "fat a*s b*tch," and a "n*gger." (Knudson's adopted daughter is African-American.) Knudson explains that Deirdra received a series of similar messages on Dec. 31 through the phone app Snapchat. He and his wife recorded the offending message on their own phones since Snapchat deletes content soon after the recipient views it.
The people who sent the message were later identified as twin freshmen at Prior Lake High School. After trying to contact their parents by phone and in person, Knudson says, school police put them in touch with the twins' father, Darren Puro, through his cell phone.
Knudson says Puro brushed off his concerns because the slur was commonly used around the twins. Puro also allegedly told him that he was happy to "own" his statement if Knudson revealed the racist message to the public.
The two men subsequently had an argument, and Knudson hung up on Puro. In the video, Knudson then plays two voicemails he says Puro left him, both of which use similar language.
In the first message, the voice identified as Puro says, "The tides have turned, huh? I guess you're a n*gger lover. Call me back." In the second message, Puro calls Knudson a "f*g," adding, "Grow up. Touch base with your kid, and you're a loser."
"I can't believe that there's even frikkin' individuals like this alive," Knudson says of Puro. "But there are."
The video has been seen more than 638,000 times since being posted on Monday. Two days later, Puro's employer told KMSP that he was no longer affilated with the company. Officials with the Prior Lake-Savage Area school district said they were aware of the video and conducting their own investigation.
But on Thursday, Knudson released a statement expressing gratitude for the support the video has received, while also saying that his daughter used the same slur in Snapchat messages of her own.
"Regardless of your skin color, I and my wife do not tolerate this word. Our daughter is going to be reprimanded in an appropriate manner," Knudson said in his statement. "I am extremely saddened and disappointed because of this video she has discredited the message that we wanted to convey."
Watch the video, as posted online on Monday, below.
