Two Black men were falsely accused of looting after video circulated of them carrying items out of a home amid the Los Angeles wildfires, an act by social media users rooted in apparent racism.
The false allegations stemmed from a video that went viral on social media of two men carrying bags of items and a TV away from a home as wildfires in southern California continue to devastate communities.
In a now-deleted post on X, formerly Twitter, a user wrote alongside the viral video: "The usual suspects are looting again." A community note quickly shut down the looting allegation, providing context that the people in the video, obtained by KTLA News, were friends and family of the homeowner.
The homeowner told KTLA that her brothers were trying to save belongings from her property amid the wildfires.
"They told us to leave and we got what we could," the homeowner said. "We have dogs, we have animals ... We just got what we could get, that's all we could do. We've got to start over."
The homeowner added that her son got "everything that was of value to his mother" amid evacuations.
Social media users reshared the now-deleted post and called out those who falsely accused the men of looting.
"These degenerate online suspected white supremacists are falsely accusing Black people who are HELPING their neighbors move their possessions to safety, as being 'looters,'" one X user wrote.
"MAGA out here lying about Black people looting during these California fires, just like they LIED about Haitian immigrants eating pets!" another user said.
"Because they’re Black, they must be looting? This isn’t an honest mistake," a third person tweeted.
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