A shocking video of Sacramento State Professor berating his neighbors alongside his inebriated wife – who uses a series of racial slurs – has provoked outrage, shortly after the video surfaced online earlier this week.
Originally posted on May 1, in the since-deleted footage Associate Economics Professor Tim Ford and his wife, Crystal, are seen ensnared in a heated verbal exchange with their downstairs neighbor, Mikaela Cobb, and her boyfriend.
According to Cobb, the argument was prompted after Crystal Ford came down to the couple’s window to complain about the smell of ‘bacon grease’ allegedly emanating from her apartment, but proceedings quickly took a nasty turn.
Crystal, who appears to be heavily intoxicated, is heard repeatedly using the N-word towards Cobb and her boyfriend throughout the clip, calling Cobb a ‘b****’ and is seen flipping off the camera.
Originally posted on May 1, in the since-deleted footage, Associate Economics Professor Tim Ford and his wife, Crystal, (above) are seen ensnared in a heated verbal exchange with their downstairs neighbor, Mikaela Cobb, and her boyfriend
According to Mikaela Cobb, the argument started after Crystal Ford came down to the couple’s window to complain about the smell of ‘bacon grease’ allegedly emanating from her apartment.
‘You look like you’re going in and out of it right now,’ Cobb’s partner can be heard saying to Crystal. ‘Are you 100 percent here with me right now?’
Swaying on the spot and speaking through slurred tongues, Crystal responds: ‘Yeah I’m 100 percent with you, I see you. I see your b****. I see you, n*****’.
Cobb and her partner respond by calmly calling Crystal ‘ridiculous’ and assuring her and Tim Ford that they aren’t doing anything to warrant the vitriol.
Speaking over his wife’s repeated use of racial slurs, Tim Ford, with a beer in his hand, responds: ‘I’m a professor at Sac State, dude. I have a Ph.D. I don’t need to be dealing with s*** like this.
Crystal, seized up with her jaw appearing to gurn, interjects that she ‘has a masters’ and that Cobb can ‘f*** off’, before walking up to her window and pushing up against the screen.
‘Your house stinks,’ she yells, as Cobb slides a glass panel across the window. ‘Your house stinks. It wreaks,’ Crystal continues protesting, as she gestures oddly with contorted arms.
Tim Ford then throws the can beer he was holding and its contents at Cobb’s window before dragging Crystal out of frame.
In her original post to Facebook, Cobb said the couple are their upstairs neighbors who attempt to initiate fights with them nearly every day, recently bringing the arguments downstairs.
Crystal, who appears to be heavily intoxicated, is heard repeatedly using the N-word towards Cobb and her boyfriend, calling her a ‘b****’ and is seen flipping off the camera
Crystal, seized up and appearing to gurn, interjects that she ‘has a masters’ and that Cobb can ‘f*** off’, before walking up to her window and pushing up against the screen
‘This is what I have to deal with while in quarantine!’ Mikaela Cobb said in the post. ‘Racial slurs are being thrown around, I can’t even [be] at peace in my own home.
‘Guys she was mad it smelled like bacon grease!? Like I can’t eat!?’ Cobb wrote, adding that the apartment complex has sent the Fords multiple notices, though no further action has yet been taken.
Speaking to the State Hornet, Cobb’s mother, Chrissy Cobb, said her daughter also has video of the Fords pouring beer down onto their apartment from their balcony.
The original video has been deleted, but since reposed online and viewed thousands of times. In response to the subsequent fallout, Tim Ford issued a statement through his attorney.
‘While we’ve had difficulties with this neighbor, this particular confrontation got out of hand,’ Ford’s statement read. ‘My wife used some language that was unacceptable and does NOT represent my way of thinking.
The professor said his wife checked into a hospital for alcohol and drug abuse on Friday.
‘She recognizes the hurt and anger she has caused and regrets it,’ he claimed, adding that he hopes Cobb and her boyfriend will accept their ‘sincerest apology’.
Ford’s statement followed one issued by Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen, who called the incident ‘very disturbing’.
The original video has been deleted, but since reposed online and viewed thousands of times. In response to the subsequent fallout, Tim Ford issued a statement through his attorney
The professor said his wife checked into a hospital for alcohol and drug abuse on Friday
Cobb, meanwhile, has since moved from the apartment complex with her boyfriend. ‘Officially moved into our new place,’ she celebrated on social media. ‘I posted the video of my neighbors to show my friends and family, what I have been going through for months in a moment of being fed up with the situation
‘I am deeply offended by the language in the video. Racial epithets are repulsive and unacceptable,’ Nelsen said it a written statement posted to Facebook. ‘Personally, I am incredibly upset by the contents of the video and the harmful impact that it is having on our campus community.
Nelsen said the school strives to be inclusive, and ‘we absolutely do not condone this sort of language or behavior.’
He added the university would not address this ‘unfortunate and unacceptable incident’ again publicly, which the school considers a personnel matter.
Ford’s statement followed one issued by Sacramento State President Robert S. Nelsen, who called the incident ‘very disturbing’
‘We must embrace and honor our diversity. We must be strong together,’ Nelsen said in his statement. ‘We must continue to be a caring university, committed to eradicating bigotry, racism, and intolerance.’
On Reddit, Economics major Matthew Clare said Ford still held class on Thursday and the incident was not mentioned.
Another student wrote on Twitter: ‘I’m so embarrassed, I actually really liked him [Ford] before this but this behavior is inappropriate and he should have called his wife out for it. While he might have not said it he married someone who sees no problem with it and that’s the issue.’
A petition by a Sac State student titled #FireTimFord started circulating Friday morning, and had gained over 500 signatures as of Sunday.
The petition says that because Sac State has a large contingent of minority students, the cultivation of an environment that is free of racial bias and discrimination is important.
‘In order to ensure that students feel exempt from bigotry in the classroom, professors that have exhibited a blatant prejudice against minorities, both on and off campus, need to be dismissed from employment at Sac State’ part of the petition’s description reads.
A petition by a Sac State student titled #FireTimFord started circulating Friday morning, and had gained over 500 signatures as of Sunday
The State Hornet reported that an email sent by the Division of Inclusive Excellence on Friday revealed a virtual town hall will be held on May 19 to address the video.
‘The President and his Cabinet understand that the Hornet community has many questions about what actions can and will be taken to respond to racial bias experienced by many in our community,’ it said.
At the meeting, participants will discuss the process by which the campus responds to personnel matters and what actions the institution can take in response to the larger issues of racial bias, the email said.
Tim Ford address his apology to everyone at Sac State, the couple’s friends and family and the surrounding community, and he promised ‘that something like this will never happen again.’
‘I’d be happy to sit down with her to help rectify the situation,’ Ford said.
Cobb, meanwhile, has since moved from the apartment complex with her boyfriend.
‘Officially moved into our new place,’ she celebrated on social media. ‘I posted the video of my neighbors to show my friends and family, what I have been going through for months in a moment of being fed up with the situation.
‘This has gone on since they have moved in. I have countless videos, emails to my complex, and messages from other tenants that have had to deal with them. I will not be posting the other videos. I have made the viral video private, I am over the situation.
‘I hope after all of this the fords change their actions and get help if needed…I can finally relax in my own home!!!!!!!!!’