After a young Black man made it to the bathroom in a Chicago area metro station just ahead of him, a White man verbally accosted him from outside.
The upsetting encounter was recorded and posted to TikTok by the young Black man, under his TikTok handle @_melo2x.
The video quickly went viral and has now received 4.9 million views.
WARNING: NSFW language
The caption suggested @_melo2x found some humor in the horrible situation.
"It's funny but not funny at the same time."
"He lucky I had to [poop emoji] real bad."
There was, however, nothing funny to be found in the 30-second video, as evidenced by the overlay accompanying it.
"White man call me the n-word cause I beat him to the bathroom"
The unseen, unidentified White man could be heard screaming the n-word as he pounded on the door multiple times.
While @_melo2x retained his composure through the course of the video, he also hinted at a possible violent altercation once he left the bathroom.
"When I go beat his a**, and I put this phone on live on Facebook and I go f*ck him up, it's gonna make sense."
"It's the sh*t we go through in the world."
@_melo2x made it clear he and the White man had no sort of interaction whatsoever before he began his racist tirade.
While some people in the comments section agreed the White man deserved the violent threat @_melo2x hinted at, others were quick to condemn it, as it would have only gotten @_melo2x in trouble.
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
Thankfully there was no altercation of any kind, as @_melo2x gave an update in the comments section.
Once he left the bathroom stall, the White man had thankfully already left the bathroom.
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x received some messages of sympathy for having to go through what he did in the comment section.
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
Shockingly though, the majority of comments were fairly unsympathetic towards @_melo2x, telling him he should toughen up and not be so sensitive towards racial slurs.
This resulted in @_melo2x, posting a follow up video regarding the incident, as well as the backlash he received in the comments section.
WARNING: NSFW language
@_melo2x gave an explanation in the captions as to why he posted his earlier video in the first place.
"The point of the video is to show y'all that people still feel way towards Black people, but I'm done here."
The video featured @_melo2x in a small box over a screenshot of his previous video.
@_melo2x began by saying this is the last word he would have on it and he would not be commenting or answering questions, condemning all the trolls from the previous video.
@_melo2x then revealed himself to be a resident of Chicago's west side and the incident took place in the predominantly White suburb of Downers Grove.
He expressed he wanted to expose how a White man in a predominantly White neighborhood still felt comfortable yelling the n-word at a Black man much younger than himself.
He also revealed TikTok took down the initial video, but restored it following an appeal.
Unfortunately, the comments of the follow up video were an equally mixed bag, with some even saying @_melo2x lost their support after he revealed he was mixed-race in the video.
This resulted in a third and final follow-up video.
WARNING: NSFW language
In the under one-minute video, @_melo2x, made it clear he did not need to justify his actions to TikTokers or anyone in how he handled himself during the incident, nor for posting either video.
And while the trolls still came out in abundance, this time he did get more support, urging him to pay them no mind, as they were likely hoping to get a rise out of him.
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
@_melo2x/TikTok
@jaketapoer/Bluesky
@BillAckman/Twitter