As Hurricane Ida approached Mississippi on Monday morning, MSNBC correspondent Shaquille Brewster unexpectedly found himself embroiled in another storm — a white man who angrily confronted Brewster, a Black man, during his live report on the hurricane.
As Brewster began his live shot in Gulfport by reporting that mail delivery had returned and that rain had stopped in the area, a white truck drove into the frame and pulled over to park behind Brewster.
The driver of the truck, a white man, jumped out and charged towards Brewster while yelling inaudible remarks. Brewster then directed the camera crew towards the Gulf of Mexico after quickly noticing that there is a “random person going around.”
“I’m going to turn this way because we deal with people every once in awhile,” Brewster said.
Brewster appeared to keep his composure and continued reporting on the hurricane and the city’s curfew staying in effect until the man’s voice grew louder in the background — still inaudible. The man then aggressively got in Brewster’s face.
“(MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin) I’m going to toss it back to you because we have a person who is…” Brewster is heard saying as the white man confronted him. Brewster appeared to raise his own arm to defend himself and started to lose his grip on his microphone while the white man continued getting in Brewster’s face.
Brewster’s live shot abruptly ended at that point, prompting Melvin to react in real-time: “Hey, hey, hey. We’re going to check in with Shaq Brewster to make sure all is well. A lot of crazy out there.”
Melvin later reported that Brewster is “just fine” and “okay.”
Brewster confirmed that he and his team are “all good” in a tweet following the confrontation.
Appreciate the concern guys. The team and I are all good!
— Shaquille Brewster (@shaqbrewster) August 30, 2021
It is unclear what the white man, whose identity has not been confirmed, was yelling about when he confronted Brewster.
However, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that the white man was shouting anti-media epithets and told Brewster to “report accurately.”
TPM reached out to Brewster for comment.
Watch the confrontation below:
Things got very hairy for NBC News reporter Shaquille Brewster during a live Hurricane Ida report from Gulfport, MS.
Some guy jumps out of a pickup truck and angrily confronts Brewster's crew, prompting a shaken Craig Melvin to express extreme concern for his colleague. pic.twitter.com/v1tYnUsqTj
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 30, 2021
