A Portland, Ore., man is giving me a particular type of joy after breaking down crying and expressing his heartfelt “regret” after being charged with a hate crime earlier this week for allegedly hurling slurs and intimidating a black Muslim couple.
I confess, my favorite type of bigot is the crying bigot.
KGW reports that Frederick Nolan Sorrell, 49, was charged with second-degree intimidation after allegedly tormenting the Muslim couple on May 29.
Sorrell is accused of driving next to the couple for more than 20 blocks (seriously, that shit is frightening) and attempting to hit their vehicle several times while shouting, “Take off the fucking burka, this is America; go back to your fucking country,” and mimicking firing a handgun, according to the Oregon Committee of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Unsurprisingly, Sorrell, who made bail, pleaded not guilty in court Monday and quickly burst into delicious crocodile tears, claiming that he never meant any harm. He insisted that he was waving his hand and pointing his finger, not making a gun gesture.
“I never tried to run into them. I was just going to work. I never tried to follow them. I never tried to make contact with them after the fact,” Sorrell said while ugly-crying.
He did, however, acknowledge that he yelled at the couple.
“I guess my fear and paranoia, I just yelled out. I don’t go on social media looking to hate on people,” he said. “I guess my ignorance and my stupidity is why I opened my mouth, and I shouldn’t have, and I claim full responsibility.
“I don’t know who you are. I’m sorry I blurted out what I blurted out, my paranoia my fear. I don’t hate you; I don’t know you,” Sorrell added. “I don’t wish death upon these people.”
Then he had the gall to invite the victims to sit with him so he could have an “open conversation.”
“If the victims want to sit down and talk, I would love to sit down and have an open conversation with them and have an open mind and apologize,” he said. “I just don’t know them, and all I know is fear-based information.”
I admit, it takes some balls to yell shit at people who are minding their own business, then invite them to have a conversation with you to help you debunk whatever apparent “fear-based information” you have received.
KGW didn’t say whether the couple would take Sorrell up on his invitation. The judge ordered him not to go on Facebook anymore, where he also accused of making several discriminatory comments. Sorrell is due back in court in August.
Read more at KGW.