“White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo slammed well-known conservative podcaster Matt Walsh, who posed as an anti-racist activist and duped her into giving a black producer reparations in an upcoming flick that she called a “Borat-style mockumentary.”
DiAngelo vowed in a statement on Thursday not to watch the film she argued is “designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists,” and addressed the uncomfortable scene that played out between her and right-wing personality Matt Walsh in the documentary “Am I Racist?”
Walsh, 38, went undercover when he sat down with DiAngelo and claimed to be interested in anti-racist sentiments before asking his producer, Ben, who is black, to join them.
Walsh, who works at conservative outlet the Daily Wire, convinced her to give Ben some cash in the form of reparations after Walsh also doled out some of his own dough in the awkward moment.
DiAngelo, 68, said in her lengthy statement that when she was contacted by a group about the doc in 2023, it was supposed to be named “Shades of Justice” and about efforts to combat racism in the US.
She was paid $15,000 (that she later donated) to participate, but when she showed up for the interview, “a few things felt off,” including the “ill-fitting wig” Walsh had on as a man bun.
But she said Walsh seemed “earnest” about anti-racist work and his questions were not adversarial until “things got weird” at the end in which she delved into the cringeworthy reparations scene that left DiAngelo visibly bewildered.
“I was so unsettled by the way Matt manipulated this last scene that I emailed the contact person – who went by the name of ‘Lee Hampton’ – to explain that this scene was not an example of reparations and could mislead viewers,” DiAngelo explained.
“I asked that they not use it in the film and shared several resources overviewing legitimate systemic efforts for reparations.
“He assured me that he understood and that they had not yet decided whether to address reparations. He never again contacted me or answered an email.”
Later, she said she realized she “had been played.”
“It is not titled ‘Shades of Justice’ nor is it meant to support the anti-racist cause. It is a Borat-style mockumentary titled ‘Am I Racist?’ and designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists,” she wrote.
DiAngelo shot to prominence when her New York Times best-selling book, “White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” hit bookshelves back in 2018.
Walsh’s documentary is set to hit movie theaters on Sept. 13 and marks the Daily Wire’s first flick to release on the big screen.
Walsh reveled in DiAngelo’s comments Thursday as he continued to mock her.
“Robin DiAngelo has issued a statement denouncing our film. She claims that the movie is ‘designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists,’” he tweeted. “She couldn’t be more correct in that assessment. Thank you, Robin!”
“My favorite part of this wonderful statement is that she says she noticed my ‘ill fitting wig’ when she first sat down with me,” he continued.
“And yet for some reason she still did the interview.”
