Shopper launches into homophobic, racist rant after being politely asked to wear a face mask. Then, he unzips his trousers
The man, identified as Timothy Gaskin, previously hosted an LGBT+ radio talkshow. (fetcharooskies/ Twitter)
When department store employees politely asked a man to put on a face covering, he descended into a homophobic, racist, anti-mask meltdown and even began to unzip his trousers.
The anti-mask rant took place in Marshall’s department store in Campbell, California, on Tuesday, 18 August, and was caught on camera by one of the store’s employees.
In the video the man, who has been identified by social media users and ABC7 News as Bay Area resident Timothy Gaskin, begins shouting at staff after being asked to put on a mask.
He said: “You dumb f**king faggot, what’s your problem? What’s your dumb f**king faggot problem?
“You don’t know the law, that’s how stupid you are.”
Gaskin goes on to falsely claim that requiring him to either wear a face mask or leave was a “health code violation”, that they were denying him service “based on a disability”, and that it would cost the department store $75,000.
“This faggot right here doesn’t know the law, he thinks he’s smart,” he added.
Gaskin’s comments then turned from homophobic to racist, as he continued: “It’s a $75,000 fine. Dumb Mexican guy here doesn’t know because he doesn’t speak English.”
After his rant, the man proceeded to wave at the person filming and unzip his trousers, appearing to try and expose himself.
https://twitter.com/fetcharooskies/status/1295579619148455938
Bizarrely, despite his homophobic, racist, anti-mask rant, Gaskin, 52, previously hosted an LGBT+ radio talkshow, according to CBS San Francisco.
He was reportedly once a well-known figure in San Francisco’s LGBT+ community, and beginning in 2004 hosted a weekly radio talkshow on queer issues called OUT Spoken. It appears that Gaskin identifies as LGBT+.
Captain Ian White of Campbell police department told ABC7 News said the incident was not being treated as a hate crime, but that the authorities’ main concern was that Gaskin’s apparent attempt to expose his genitals.
White said: “Our primary concern, obviously with this call, which I think is of great concern is the exposure aspect of this and if a crime occurred.
“And that’s really not to minimise the mask wearing and the times that we’re in now, and how dangerous that can be as well.
“But you know, really looking at the crime aspect of exposing oneself in the middle of a populated store, and trying to look into that at this point.”
He added: “If the case is filed, then there will most likely be an arrest, based on a warrant issued from the court.”
