Springfield resident who ignited false rumor 'feels' for Haitian community: 'I am not a racist'

14 September 2024

Springfield, OH resident Erika Lee, who NBC News reports “was among the first people to” advance the baseless rumor that Haitian immigrants are eating local pets, on Friday said she “didn’t mean” for the accusation to become fodder for national politics.

“I didn’t think it would ever get past Springfield," Lee told NBC News.

According to NBC reporter Alicia Victoria Lozano, Lee “says she had no firsthand knowledge of any such incident and is now filled with regret and fear as a result of the ensuing fallout.”

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Per the report, media watchdog organization Newsguard identified Lee as one of the original sources of misinformation, which was later parroted by Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and former president Donald Trump — first at a July Senate committee hearing and later on the campaign trail.

NBC News reports:

Lee recently posted on Facebook about a neighbor’s cat that went missing, adding that the neighbor told Lee she thought the cat was the victim of an attack by her Haitian neighbors.

… Lee had been among the first people to publish a post to social media about the rumor, screenshots of which circulated online. The neighbor, Kimberly Newton, said she heard about the attack from a third party, NewsGuard reported.

Lee told NBC News she’s “not a racist,” has a half-Black daughter and is “a member of the LGBTQ community.”

“Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent,” Lee said of the fallout from her since-deleted Facebook post.

“I feel for the Haitian community,” Lee said. “If I was in the Haitians’ position, I’d be terrified, too, worried that somebody’s going to come after me because they think I’m hurting something that they love and that, again, that’s not what I was trying to do.

Bomb threats on Friday forced the closure of schools and municipal buildings in Springfield for a second consecutive day, Lozano and David K. Li report.

Springfield Mayor Rob Rue on Friday pleaded with “those that have a national stage” and “millions and millions [of followers]” to change their tune on the Haitian community in Springfield.

“We need them to understand what their words are doing to cities like Springfield, Ohio," Rue said. "What we need is help. We don't need this misinformation."

Read the full report at NBC News.

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