Black University of South Carolina students, like millions of others across the country, held a virtual meeting over Zoom Video on Friday.
The students, members of the university’s Association of African-American Students, were then met by unwelcomed guests – an act known as ‘Zoombombing’ – who joined the video call just to spew racist slurs.
The AAAS was in the middle of a virtual version of their yearly spring cookout when the incident occurred.
One member captured a portion of the disturbance and posted the video on Twitter with advice for white people to “PLEASE check your kids.”
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Please be advised that the clip includes language that some may find offensive.
*NSFW* The language is very intense but this just happened on our Zoom call. We were having a little party courtesy of the African American Association of Students when some random racists/neo-nazis, i assume teenagers, jumped on the meeting. white ppl: PLEASE check your kids pic.twitter.com/tqejErwS06
— aidan b. (@aidannbaker) April 24, 2020
The supposed hackers wore blackface and posted a Nazi swastika while attacking the students with racial epithets. The AAAS released an official statement about the incident via its Twitter account.
“We are completely repulsed by the actions of these individuals and offer our support to those who were subject to or in any way impacted by it,” the statement read.
Earlier tonight, our spring cookout was interrupted by a racist incident. As a student group, we are here to support one of another. The message below addresses tonight’s incident. pic.twitter.com/CQ4b3zVCkE
— AAAS (@AAAS_1968) April 25, 2020
The University has shut down the campus and all corresponding student activities as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Students have resorted to the video conferencing platform, which has come under fire for security breaches, to stay engaged throughout the remainder of the semester.
READ MORE: Black woman says her Zoom was hijacked by racists hurling N-word
University President Bob Caslen tweeted a statement about the incident on Friday saying that the institution would investigate the situation.
“What happened at the AAAS Cookout is absolutely unacceptable & disgusting,” he wrote. “I can’t apologize enough to the @UofSCstudents who witnessed such ignorance while gathering to fellowship with one another during this unprecedented time.”
What happened at the AAAS Cookout is absolutely unacceptable & disgusting. I can’t apologize enough to the @UofSCstudents who witnessed such ignorance while gathering to fellowship with one another during this unprecedented time. University officials are aware & are investigating
— Bob Caslen (@Bob_Caslen) April 25, 2020
Zoom also chimed in with a company statement.
“Zoom strongly condemns such behavior and recently updated several features to help our users more easily protect their meetings,” the statement read. “We encourage users to report any incidents of this kind either to Zoom so we can take appropriate action or directly to law enforcement authorities.”
This is one of several incidents in which racist hackers have attacked Black people over Zoom. U.S. Olympic Fencer Nzingha Prescott and New York Rangers prospect K’Andre Miller were both recent targets of racist remarks over the video platform.
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