The lawyer of a couple who threw what’s been dubbed a racist “Juneteenth parody party” and who ran a racist “parody” Twitter account in which they made racist Tweets, says … that doesn’t make them racist. It’s unclear why their lawyer is even trying at this point when the couple only keeps digging themselves into a bigger hole.
Juneteenth officially became recognized as a federal holiday in 2021. However, the holiday has been celebrated since 1866 and marks the day in 1865 in which slaves in Texas learned of their freedom, 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Hence, it became a holiday to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the Confederate states. Of course, some racist individuals have desperately sought to put a damper on the holiday.
That is just what Dr. Nicholas Nicosia and his wife, Mary Znidarsic-Nicosia—wealthy and prominent figures in the Rochester, NY community—did with a party they held earlier this summer. After the party, Rochester Fire Capt. Jeffrey Krywy retired when it came to light that he was the one who invited an on-duty Black firefighter, Jerrod Jones, to attend, for which Jones subsequently sued the city. According to the Rochester City Newspaper, Jones sued because, with the party billed as an anti-“liberal” political event, “racist overtones permeated the party, which included a menu of Kentucky Fried Chicken, the presence of Hennessy cognac, and Juneteenth-themed signs and party favors.”
As part of their defense, the couple has admitted that their racism extends even farther than their abhorrent party.
People who aren’t racist don’t run racist Twitter pages
Upon the scrutiny they faced over the party, the couple had the bright idea to hold a press conference to clear their names, where their lawyer insisted that those racist overtones were unintentional, ignoring context to claim that KFC and Hennessy being widely popular means there wasn’t racist intent here. However, Mary ended up tearfully admitting she was also behind a notoriously racist Twitter account, the content of which makes it pretty hard to believe that the choice of party themes was coincidental. She refused to specify which account, but internet sleuths linked her to an account called @HoHoHomeboyROC, which sometimes went by the username Colonel Nathaniel Sanders. While the account deactivated shortly after Mary and Nicholas came under scrutiny, some Tweets were screenshotted by users.
These Tweets include offensive caricatures of African American individuals and photos edited to include racist tropes, including one photo with the phrase “Black Lives Platter” (a play on Black Lives Matter) alongside a bucket of fried chicken. Mary admitted that she made tweets that were “blatantly racist.” However, she says she herself is not racist because she was just acting under a racist persona and enjoying the opportunity to be someone else on Twitter that she is not in real-life.
Meanwhile, this woman is pretty wealthy, so you’d assume she’d find a good lawyer who would, first and foremost, tell her to stop talking already. Instead, she found a lawyer, Corey Hogan, who repeated her sentiments. As reported by the Rochester City Newspaper, Hogan did call Mary’s Twitter account “vile” and “racist.” However, he then turned around and stated,
I challenge you, the press, look into their backgrounds, find anything they’ve done in their lives, their 50-plus-year lives, that’s racist. And before you then go after them, why don’t you take a look at what the facts are.
Rochester City Newspaper
These are the facts
It seems strange to have to say this, but, yes, you are racist if you have an entire racist Twitter profile dedicated to making blatantly racist Tweets on a daily basis, even if you have some weird rationalization about it being just a character you’re playing. Sure, some people might be excited to portray themselves differently on social media—you know, maybe make themselves sound smarter or funnier than they really are. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone, though, who says, “OMG! I can pretend to be a racist on Twitter! This is so amazing!” Not anyone who isn’t already racist, anyway!
Let’s put it this way: You can’t go on the internet and publicly start making hate speech, threats, or harassing someone, and then get let off the hook by telling authorities it wasn’t you, it was just your evil alter-ego Twitter persona that you created because you get a kick off of being evil and vile on social media—but, don’t worry, you’re a really nice person in real-life who has never done anything wrong. We all know it doesn’t work like that.
(featured image: Shutterstock)
