A man strongly denied accusations he told a Democratic lawmaker to “go back where you came from” during a confrontation at a July 20 press conference—just a day after the two had clashed at a supermarket express checkout lane.
The man at the center of the allegations, Eric Sparkes, acknowledged he name-called Thomas, but during a second-chance confrontation with the lawmaker, who was in the middle of an interview about the incident, denied ever making the alleged racially charged comment.
Sparkes also told reporters that he isn’t “white,” as Thomas had claimed, and is of Cuban descent. Sparkes is also a Democrat himself and said that the lawmaker’s racist accusations were politically motivated.
“I’m a Democrat. I will vote Democrat the rest of my life, okay? So to call me what she wants to believe for her political purposes to make it black, white, brown, or whatever is so untrue,” he told reporters.
Sparkes, as recently as July 14, had posted a derogatory comment against President Donald Trump on Facebook and expressed support for the four congresswomen whom Trump had told to “go back,” according to 11 Alive.
The four congresswomen are Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashia Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). Apart from Omar, who was born in Somalia, the other three lawmakers were born in the United States.
The initial claims by Thomas were spread widely across social media, with the media painting it as a racist episode.
It also drew similarities to the news cycle when media rushed to paint Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann, a Trump supporter, as a racist and instigator of a confrontation with Native American activist Nathan Phillips. Sandmann’s lawyers have sued several news organizations for defamation.