A man was arrested after a TikTok video in which a person made racist and homophobic comments went viral, officials say
arinekim/TikTok
- A TikTok showed racist and homophobic comments made to two students in California.
- The pair, who were eating at an In-N-Out looked stunned. The video quickly went viral.
- A man was subsequently arrested on two counts of committing a hate crime, officials said on Monday.
A man was arrested in connection to a viral TikTok video that depicted racial and homophobic slurs, according to a statement published Monday by the San Ramon Police Department in California.
The man, identified as Denver resident Jordan Douglas Krah, 40, was arrested on two counts of committing a hate crime and remains in custody at the Martinez Detention Facility, the press release said. Insider was unable to contact Krah for comment.
—San Ramon Police (@SanRamonPolice) December 27, 2022
The TikTok video was posted on December 25 by a user named Arine Kim. It shows two people trying menu items and rating them when a person, who is not visible in the clip, can be heard saying: "You're filming yourself eating? You're weird homosexuals."
The two people look stunned before the person then asked them if they are Japanese or Korean. When one of them answers "Korean," he responded, "that's what I thought. You're Kim Jong Un's boyfriend."
Toward the end of the video, the person can be heard saying he is "waiting outside" for them, while the friends laugh nervously. The video quickly went viral. At the time of writing, it has more than 12 million views.
Police officials described the comments as an "unprovoked" and labeled it a "homophobic racist rant." They said it took place at an In-N-Out in San Ramon on Christmas Eve.
San Ramon Police Chief Denton Carlson opened an investigation into the incident, and several hours later announced the arrest.
"The San Ramon Police Department strives to ensure everyone in our community is safe and welcome. We will continue to take swift and diligent legal action against acts of hate to help create an inclusive place for all to live, work, and visit," the press release said.
San Ramon Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a follow-up TikTok video responding to the arrest, Kim said the man was waiting for them outside the In-N-Out and "kept staring at us through the window for a solid 10 minutes."
"We just stayed in our seats and didn't move because we were scared that if we did move, he would use that as an invitation to harass us more," she added.
Kim said they plan on pressing charges, and expressed her gratitude for the kindness in the comments section of the video, adding: "The amount of outrage that is expressed ... honestly warms my heart so much."
"I caught this incident on video, but you have to think about the tens and thousands of people across the US that don't capture these kinds of incidents on videos," she said.
Hate crimes against Asian American communities have increased in recent years, rising by 339% last year compared with 2020, a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism showed, according to The Guardian.