Terrifying footage shows young gay man being brutally beaten on the street while filming a TikTok
A gay man was left bloodied and bruised after he was beaten and called homophobic slurs while filming a TikTok video in public.
The 24-year-old was attacked on Saturday (26 September) at around 11.30pm on Broad Street, New York City, while recording a video with a female friend.
In terrifying video footage released to local media by the New York Police Department, a man with blonde hair and wearing a white shirt can be seen approaching the pair aggressively.
The gay man’s female friend tries to hold him off, but he moves past her, punching the gay man in the face. When the gay man turns around to walk away, his assailant punches him in the back of the head.
Gay man was left with a split lip and a bloody nose after terrifying suspected hate crime while filming a TikTok.
The suspect also hurled homophobic slurs at the man during the unprovoked attack.
He was left with a split lip and a bloody nose in the attack. The incident is being investigated by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.
The assailant is describe as having blonde hair, around 5’9 in height, and was last seen wearing a white long sleeved shirt, black shorts and black trainers.
Anybody with information on the attacker is asked to contact police in Manhattan.
Hate crime is on the rise in the United States, according to recent research.
In 2019, a report found that hate crimes had reached a decade high in the United States, with LGBT+ people the most frequently targeted.
In the year preceding the report, hate crimes increased by nine per cent, with 2,009 incidents recorded in 30 cities surveyed by the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at California State University San Bernardino.
That rise marked the fifth increase in hate crime across the United States in five consecutive years, and represented the steepest rise since 2015.
LGBT+ people are the most targeted minority group along with Jewish people and Black people, the research found.