Husband Apologizes for Wife’s Viral Racist Incident, Blames ‘Mental Illness’ But Does Not Say She is Also Sorry

The husband of Tamara Harrian — who was filmed getting slapped after telling a young woman to go “back to Mexico” — has apologized for the incident and blamed an unspecified “mental illness,” but did not relay an apology for his wife.

Harrian was seen in a viral video harassing a woman — identified as Karina Rodriguez — at an Arizona gas station. The video, posted on Facebook by a user named Greg Conn, features Harrian attempting to eject Rodriguez from the store and telling her to “go back to your country.”

She then tried to eject Conn as well, and after more words with Rodriguez — which included Rodriguez informing Harrian that she was born in the United States — Harrian grabbed her arm. At that point, Harrian learned the answer to the eternal question “What did the five fingers say to the face?”

Following the slap, Ms. Harrian made egress from the store. Conn said in a later post that the clerk seen in the video “kept his cool, stayed relaxed and professional, and then proceeded to calm her down in the parking lot and walk her to her car.”

The video went viral, and the woman’s husband Robert Harrian has apologized for his wife’s behavior in comments to The Arizona Republic:

“I couldn’t believe it,” Robert Harrian told The Arizona Republic. “What she said was reprehensible … I’m very, very sorry.”

… Robert Harrian said he first saw the video when a friend emailed it to him Sunday morning. He says he and his wife aren’t racist and that a mental illness can make her act out of character.

“I’ve been brought to tears a lot the past couple days,” he said. “I have tried to do my best to share with people what really happened, but the emails don’t stop, the posts don’t stop.”

He went on to tell the paper “I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” and that “I’m very, very sorry for what happened … what my wife said and did and that whole scene. I’m very sorry.”

According to Harrian, his law firm was torpedoed with bad reviews after the clip went viral, and he fears he will lose business over the incident. Mr. Harrian did not relay an apology on behalf of his wife, and the Arizona Republic reported she was unavailable for comment.

Watch the clip above via Greg Conn.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!