A white South Carolina high school student is facing backlash after she posted (and deleted) a TikTok video pretending to whip George Floyd.
The disturbing video, which was created by Lauren Swist, was posted to her TikTok account earlier this month. In the video, Swist is seen standing in front of an image of Floyd’s face, along with the caption, “George Floyd: ‘Hey can I borrow a dollar?’” The clip then cuts to an image of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin with his knee planted on Floyd’s neck. As Swist lip sync’s the N-word along to a verse from Klondike Blonde’s single “Drip,” she takes out a belt and pretends to whip Floyd.
The TikTok video went viral after Twitter user @myramenisbeuno shared it on Dec. 20 with the caption, “Lauren Swist posted a racist TikTok about George Floyd, she even gets a belt and pretends to whip him. She lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.”
The clip was met with immediate criticism from multiple people on social media. Actor William Baldwin reacted to the video on Twitter and asked her high school about possible consequences.
“Hey @SocasteeHS… I’m told your student Lauren Swist posted this incredibly racist video,” he tweeted on Dec. 22. “When will she be expelled? Also… can your school post a list of all colleges she’s applying to cuz we’d like to make sure they know about this as well… thx!! #HopeItWasWorthItLauren.”
Swist issued an apology after deleting the video. “I sent it to one person who I trusted and they took it too far by sending it to someone they knew would share it out of spite for being angry at me and wanting to hurt me,” she wrote. She also said the video was “taken out of context.”
“If you know me personally I am not racist, although it blatantly sounds that way, and I would never want to hurt people like this,” she added.
Check out the disturbing video below.