Alex O’Keefe, a black TV writer who wrote for The Bear, just went viral after filming himself getting kicked off a train for what he says was a racist incident.
He was on an MTA train heading to Connecticut last week when the altercation happened, and captured a big part of the interaction on video, which he shared on his Instagram to his 12k followers.
In the post caption, Alex said the police were called after another passenger reported the way he was sitting on the train.
“You arrest the one black dude on the train, because this white woman said she didn’t like the way I was sitting,” he said to the two train police who were trying to get him off.
In the video, Alex pointed at the woman who he alleged called the police on him. The officers then tried to grab and handcuff him, but Alex refused to get up.
An MTA representative confirmed to People Alex wasn’t arrested.
The camera moved out of focus as the altercation escalated, but Alex can be heard saying: “I haven’t done anything illegal.”
A female police officer then tells Alex to “Stop resisting” as they continue to try remove him from his seat.
“Resisting what? What are you trying to arrest me for?” Alex responded. “I was sitting on a train, and you’re trying to arrest me, for what? Can I not even know what you’re trying to arrest me for?”
The video then cuts off.
Alex said the incident caused the train to stop until he was taken off. He shared a video of him getting handcuffed outside the train, as police began questioning him. He was then reportedly let go.
During an MTA press conference, Chairman James Lieber addressed the situation, but admitted he hadn’t actually seen the video.
“If you’re putting your feet on the seats, you’re breaking the rules of our commuter railroad and of the subways of the whole MTA,” he said.
“The police have to get involved because somebody won’t take his feet off the seat? Just take your feet off the seat. It’s that simple. And respect other passengers. But we’ll take a look at the video and deal with all the dramas that seem to come out of these simple interactions these days.”
Outside of working as a writer for season one of The Bear, Alex was an outspoken voice during the SAG-AFTRA writing strikes and regularly spoke out about the struggles of working as a TV writer full-time.
The Tab has approached MTA and Alex O’Keefe for comment.
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Featured image via @usadisobey on TikTok/ @dotgov on Instagram
