‘Horrific.’ SC news anchor apologizes for daughter’s racist language in viral video
The teenage daughter of a South Carolina news anchor went viral when videos of her using racist and homophobic language were posted on social media.
Gracie Wood, 17, was seen in two videos posted by the Instagram account SauceCarolina. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal said that people running the account would not tell reporters where they got the footage. The first video appears to have been removed as of Jan. 14, but the second video remains on the account’s Instagram page.
Her mother, Amy Wood, addressed the situation in a Facebook post, saying that she wanted to apologize on her daughter’s behalf for the “horrific, disgusting and vile things” she was filmed saying.
“We know the words spoken have caused terrible pain and we are heartbroken over this, since we have never tolerated racism or hate in any fashion,” Amy Wood, an anchor for 7News WSPA-TV in South Carolina, said in the statement. “We stand completely opposed to any behavior that diminishes anyone.”
Amy Wood also said that her daughter had been “a champion for rights and equality at her school,” but that a party at someone else’s home “provided the perfect opportunity for so-called friends to bait a very intoxicated 17-year-old to say things that are in direct conflict with the way she has led her life.”
The teen has not yet addressed the video on any of her social media platforms, which she previously used to promote herself as a singer and songwriter.
In the first video, Wood can be heard saying things like “kick Mexicans and Middle Easterns out, all they do is wanna kill people” and “Africans, kill them – literally, we should blow up the whole continent of Africa.”
When someone off-screen asks her how she feels about Germany, she can be heard saying, “y’all are Nazis, but since y’all hate gay people and Black people, I support.”
People in the room can be heard screaming in the background and saying “yes, I got it” after capturing the girl’s words on video.
In the second video, someone off-screen can be heard asking her to say her “favorite racial slurs,” and she can be heard responding with slurs referring to Asian people, the LGBTQ+ community and Black people.
“This is not Gracie’s heart and this is not our heart,” her mother said in the Facebook statement. “We will be working to learn from this and grow even stronger in our beliefs of equality and inclusion. To anyone who has been hurt, we offer our sincerest apology and ask for your forgiveness.”
Prior to the incident, Wood was popular on Instagram and had over 30,000 followers,the Herald-Journal reported. Her debut song, “You Ain’t My Boo,” had over 3,000 streams on Spotify as of Jan. 14. She has since deleted her Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Wood is a senior at Oakbrook Preparatory School, a private Christian school in Spartanburg. She performs with the theater department and is on the school’s volleyball team, the Herald-Journal reported.
The school addressed the incident in a Jan. 12 Facebook post, saying that officials had been made aware of recent statements made by an Oakbrook student.
“While these statements were made off campus in a non-school related event, we find these comments and the behavior of those involved offensive and extremely disappointing,” the statement said. “As advocates for all God’s people, we strive to create a community that is respectful and inclusive based on Biblical principle and appreciates the richness of different cultures and viewpoints.”
Oakbrook Preparatory School and Amy Wood did not immediately respond to requests for comment from McClatchy News.
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