Anti-racism activist Robin DiAngelo is breaking her silence on the upcoming ‘Am I Racist?’ film, laying out how Daily Wire host Matt Walsh “deceived” her into appearing in what she describes as “a Borat-style mockumentary…designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists.”
In a note on her website titled “About That Film,” the “White Fragility” author says the “sequence of events” that ended with her taking $30 out of her purse to pay reparations to a black producer on set was “unsettling,” and that she figured out she “had been played” before the trailer for the film was released in July.
“After reviewing the sequence of events and discussing it with colleagues, I realized that they had lied about their agenda and I had been played,” DiAngelo says.
But it wasn’t until after seeing the trailer for the film, which opens in theaters across the country this Friday, that she realized the interview was not “meant to support the anti-racist cause.”
“It is not titled Shades of Justice nor is it meant to support the anti-racist cause,” DiAngelo writes. “It is a Borat-style mockumentary titled Am I Racist? and designed to humiliate and discredit anti-racist educators and activists.”
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DiAngelo is featured in the film, one of Walsh’s many interview subjects. Walsh, sporting a man bun, convinces DiAngelo she had a “powerful opportunity” to display her commitment to anti-racism by giving his black producer, Ben, money from her purse.
In her statement, DiAngelo claims she detected the wig and other things that “felt off,” but thought that Walsh “seemed earnest.”
“When I arrived for the interview, a few things felt off,” DiAngelo writes. “The grips would not make eye contact with me and the interviewer, who was introduced as ‘Matt,’ appeared to be wearing an ill-fitting wig. Matt presented himself as someone new to antiracist work and seemed earnest, and his questions did not come across as adversarial.”
She says the reparations segment, however, “got weird.” Here’s how she remembers it:
“Matt asked what I thought about reparations for Black Americans. I said that I agreed with reparations but that it was not my area of expertise. He then pulled up a chair and invited a Black crew-member who went by “Ben” to sit with us, took out his wallet and handed Ben some cash. He said that if I believed in reparations, I should also give Ben cash. While some Black people have asked white people to engage in reparations by giving directly to individuals, reparations are generally understood as a systemic approach to past and current injustice. The way Matt set this up felt intended to put Ben and I on the spot. Because Matt was pushing this on us, I expressed my discomfort and checked in with Ben, to be sure he was okay with receiving cash in this way. Ben reassured me that he was, so I went to my wallet and handed him my cash and the interview ended.”
DiAngelo confesses that she took $15,000 to do the interview, but has since donated the money to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. It is unclear whether she included the $30 reparations payment in her donation.
DiAngelo says she will not be “deceived” again, and that she will not see the film.
“This experience has reinforced for me how critically important it is to do in-depth background research before making yourself vulnerable to people you don’t know, or believing and sharing what you see online,” she says. “I have not seen the film nor do I plan to watch it, so I don’t know what they have used of my interview or how they have edited it.
She also says that the agenda for the film is clear, quoting Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing’s statement that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is the “next pillar of the woke mind virus that’s about to topple.”
DiAngelo ends her statement with a prediction: “They will not prevail in their efforts to stop the work for racial justice.”
Walsh responded to DiAngelo’s statement on X, saying she was “correct” in her assessment of his intentions.
My favorite part of this wonderful statement is that she says she noticed my “ill fitting wig” when she first sat down with me. And yet for some reason she still did the interview.
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 12, 2024
Walsh said his “favorite part” of the statement was her critique of his hair, and suggestion that she knew something was up the whole time.
“My favorite part of this wonderful statement is that she says she noticed my ‘ill fitting wig’ when she first sat down with me,” Walsh said. “And yet for some reason she still did the interview.”
Am I Racist? opens on Friday in over 1,500 theaters. DiAngelo deactivated her social media accounts last month.
