'You work for a fascist': Sean Spicer confronted in Apple store

Shree Chauhan - a woman who confronted Sean Spicer in an Apple store - says the top Trump spokesperson was racist and threatened her citizenship.

Sean Spicer bombarded with questions in the Apple store.

Sean Spicer bombarded with questions in the Apple store. Source: Periscope

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was shopping at an Apple store in Washington DC last weekend when progressive education activist Shree Chauhan spotted the Trump administration spokesperson and bombarded him with loaded questions.

“How does it feel to work for a fascist?” the 33-year-old woman asked with her phone set to live-stream on Twitter.

“We have a great country” Mr Spicer responded.
“We have a great country? Have you helped with the Russia stuff? Are you a criminal as well? Have you committed treason too, just like the president?” Ms Chauhan said.

“It’s such a great country, that allows you to be here,” Spicer responded, before moving on to speak with another person and then leaving the store – continuously peppered with further questions from Ms Chauhan.

Ms Chuahan, who is of Indian descent, later said she found Mr Spicer’s response racist and a threat against her citizenship.

“That is racism and it is an implied threat,” she wrote in a blog post about the incident.

“Think about the sheer audacity of Mr Spicer to say that to my face with a smile, knowing that he that he is being recorded on video and the position of power he holds in our government.”

She strongly rejected the interpretation that Mr Spicer was referring to her ability to ask him questions openly and publicly.

“Don’t tell me what he probably meant,” she told the Daily Mail.

“He could've said, ‘Such a great country that allows dissent,’ – there’s a lot of ways that could’ve been said.”
In the video, Ms Chuahan continued to confront Mr Spicer as he was leaving the store.

 “You know you work for a fascist, right? You work for a fascist – How do you feel about that? How do you feel about destroying our country?” she said.

“Do you feel good about the decisions you’re making. About lying to the American people? Do you feel good about lying to the American people?”

While Mr Spicer didn’t respond at the time, he later said he was open to anyone asking questions.

“It’s a free country,” he said in a press briefing on Monday.

“I speak with individuals all day - 99 per cent of whom are pleasant, even people who may not agree with our philosophy.”

Share
3 min read

Published

Updated

By Ben Winsor

Tags

Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world
'You work for a fascist': Sean Spicer confronted in Apple store | SBS News