Trader Joe’s shopper who was caught on camera in an anti-mask tirade seen millions of times online spoke to CBS Los Angeles on Sunday.
It was opening day at the Trader Joe’s store in North Hollywood when the shopper who went viral tried to shop without covering his face.
“I have a respiratory problem, basically, from the nose,” said the woman.
The woman said the store manager allowed her to shop without the mask that night.
The woman told CBS LA that an employee offered to buy her and that she could wait outside but wanted to buy it alone.
But, she said, a man started cursing her into wearing a mask. She said she felt threatened.
“No one was helping me, so that’s what they show in the video at the time,” he said.
The video showed her yelling at other buyers demanding that she put on a mask, saying they were violating federal law.
It was then that the outbreak of anger began in which he referred to people as “Democratic pigs.”
“At that time, I felt like they were acting like pigs,” he said. “Do I regret it? No. I mean, not really at the time, I don’t.”
While Trader Joe’s store policy does not require, but encourages, masks, Governor Gavin Newsom recently issued a state mandate to cover the face to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
After the outbreak, the woman was asked to leave the store, but she did not do so at first, saying that “she did nothing wrong.”
Police were called but no charges were filed, and the woman went home, promising never to visit the location of that merchant Joe again.
On Sunday night, two men were seen shopping at the store without masks and were quickly escorted.
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