A viral TikTok shows a Black woman having to tell her co-workers that ‘porch monkeys’ is a racist slur after someone suggested it for a team name.
Jess (@curlyjess) filmed and posted the video, and it has since been viewed over 2.4 million views. In the footage, she’s in the midst of a work call.
“Porch monkeys?” asks an unseen person, who then asks if anyone has “any other ideas.” Jess chimes in to say, “I was gonna say no to porch monkeys because it’s a racial slur.”
Several of Jess’ co-workers sound surprised, with one saying to “scratch” that suggestion.
Jess explained further in the comments: “Y’all so lemme explain, we were trying to come up with names and my co-worker who’s old and southern suggested porch monkeys and came up some excuse as to why but it had no relation to our company and what we do. No one objected. The guy who was interrupting me also was trying to tell the team that.”
“The person who suggested it definitely knew it was a racial slur,” one commenter said.
Others concurred, including one who wrote, “It’s a term that not everyone will know but also a specific term that will never be accidentally suggested.”
“They knew it was a racial slur. Why do we have to explain racism to the hos who made it,” a third said.
Another suggested the person should be “terminated immediately.”
“In what context would that have anything to do with the task at hand?! Zero excuses,” they added.
Jess also made a follow-up video, in which she reiterates that it was an older “Southern” woman who “casually” suggested the racist slur as a team name. She says her boss was apologetic about the incident and provided her with human resources (HR) information.
The Daily Dot reached out to @curlyjess via a TikTok comment.
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