(JTA) — A black woman who was filmed berating a Jewish man on a New York subway said she regrets telling him “f*** you” — and nothing else.
Shauntaye King, who launched into her rant against Yossi Wolfe over his Jewish identity when another black woman was not offered a seat, made her remarks in an interview published Thursday by the New York Post.
With the exception of expletives, “I didn’t say anything that would be considered derogatory or hurtful,” said King, a project manager for a construction company.
In the video, she is seen screaming at Wolfe, an observant Jew who wears a kippah: “You guys think you’re so f***king smart, but guess what? I’m gonna teach you a lesson on this f***ing train today.”
Wolfe can be heard saying: “No, ‘you guys.’ I am a person. You are a person.”
King goes on to say: “No. We are different. Understand that. You know why? Because your people treat my people different in our community! You treat us different in our community. You don’t even rent to us. What the f*** are you talking about?”
During the encounter, King can be heard shouting over Wolfe, “You need to learn the difference between race … Judaism is not a race. It is a religion.”
In addition to a religion, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Judaism also as “the whole body of Jews: the Jewish people.”
When Wolfe, a Wall Street software engineer, asked why King was bringing up race, she said: “Because you’re Jewish and I said if a Jewish family got on here, somebody would have got up. That is not a racist statement. That is a factual statement.”
In the Post interview, King also said that during the exchange, she also told Wolfe: “You guys are a bunch of a**holes for not getting up for this woman and if a Jewish family came on this train with their carriage and their children, I can guarantee some of you would have gotten up for them.”
