Fox reporter gets earful over looting question: 'Your ancestors profited off me and that's repercussions'

A reporter for Fox affiliate KTTV in Los Angeles got an earful from Santa Monica residents after he asked why protesters were so upset following the police killing of George Floyd.

After apparent looting in Santa Monica on Sunday, reporter Phil Shuman asked a bystander to explain the unrest.

"It's just collective anger," the man said.

"Collective anger at what?" Shuman wondered.

"You already know," the bystander replied. "At the injustices that's been happening. Look, cops are killing people. They are breaking the rules."

"Well, one cop is accused of killing one person," Shuman interrupted.

At that point, a second man stepped up to explain the protests.

"They are killing multiple people," the man said. "They just gunned down a Hispanic man and he had his arms up and they shot him 16 times when he was calling for his life. So I don't understand that. What do you mean, one cop? This has been happening. We can go five years back with [Trayvon Martin] as the martyr. We can go 10 years back."

Shuman attempted to direct the conversation back to the subject of looting.

"So!" the man exclaimed. "It's the repercussions of your ancestors. That's what happened. I'm sorry though. You might not even be that white guy, but your ancestors profited off of me and that's repercussions. Because a lot of things happen in my life are just repercussions from being black."

"You looking at me crazy," the man continued. "But I've got a scholarship. So I'm just trying to give you an understanding of where people's mentals (sic) are. I haven't took a damn thing but I need you to understand it's not just one cop."

After the man used several curse words, the station cut the live shot.

"You can see this man is clearly very angry," the anchor opined. "And it is interesting to hear his perspective and to try to get into the mind of why this is happening."

Watch the video below from KTTV.