The man who was caught on video calling former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens a racial slur is now defending the decision by citing his first amendment rights.
The man, identified by TMZ only as a 28-year-old named Arman, got into an argument with Owens outside of a Starbucks in Brentwood, California, on Tuesday night. In a video published by TMZ, the two men can be seen threatening each other before Owens begins to walk away. Arman, however, doesn't stop, calling Owens "n****r" and shouting, "F**king knuckle-running, spear-chucking, monkey-ass looking motherf**ker."
When confronted about his language by TMZ, Arman initially denied using those words, but came clean once video evidence was presented. Well, sort of.
Instead of issuing a mea culpa, Arman made up excuses for his inexcusably racist rant, telling TMZ that he was "purposefully racist" and that "I just wanted to make him mad and sad. I'm Middle Eastern and Muslim and not KKK."
He went on to stress to that using inflammatory racist language is protected by the Constitution, but tripping someone inside a coffee shop is not. "There's freedom of speech but there's not freedom of attack. He kicked me in the Starbucks," he said.
In a video taken by Arman and obtained by TMZ, Arman accuses Owens of kicking him inside the Starbucks, but doesn't elaborate on why or how Owens came to allegedly kick a stranger.
TMZ reports that the altercation began when Arman started screaming at Owens, who told him to quiet down before allegedly tripping him. Arman then followed Owens out to his car and threw a cup into his window, which prompted Owens to get out of his car and fire his own cup at Arman, who reportedly filed a police report in the aftermath of the exchange.
Owens addressed the matter on Tuesday night on Twitter, posting a video of himself ordering a drink at a different Starbucks in Brentwood.
While Owens is owning the incident, Arman didn't want his full name released. As he claimed to TMZ, he has black friends and doesn't want his "name to be ruined."
Too late for that, Arman.
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