The Springfield, Ohio, resident whose social media post alleging Haitian immigrants were stealing and eating locals pets was amplified by former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance has expressed deep remorse.
"It just exploded into something I didn't mean to happen," Erika Lee told NBC News on Friday evening.
Springfield has been thrust into the national spotlight following a series of memes that were crafted to further an unsubstantiated rumor that Haitian immigrants were eating the pets of residents. Trump and Vance amplified the rumors by publicly voicing the allegations that "people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country."
Lee had no firsthand knowledge of any incidents involving Haitians when she posted on Facebook about a missing cat that her neighbor believed was slain and eaten by one of the city's Haitian residents.
Her since-deleted post first appeared in the private Springfield Facebook group Springfield Ohio Crime and Information earlier this month.
The post, a screenshot of which was posted on X by End Wokeness, read:
"Warning to all about our beloved pets & those around us!! My neighbor informed me that her daughters friend had lost her cat. She checked pages, kennels, asked around, etc. One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors house, where Haitians live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you'd do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat. I've been told they are doing this to dogs, they have been doing it at snyder park with the ducks & geese, as I was told that last bit by Rangers & police. Please keep a close eye on these animals"
The neighbor, identified as Kimberly Newton, reportedly said she actually heard the story from an acquaintance and not her daughter.
"I'm not a racist," Lee told NBC News, fighting back tears.
Lee told NBC News that she herself is of mixed race and a member of the LGBTQ community and that and her daughter is half Black.
"Everybody seems to be turning it into that, and that was not my intent," Lee added.
"I feel for the Haitian community," Lee told NBC. "If I was in the Haitians' position, I'd be terrified, too, worried that somebody's going to come after me because they think I'm hurting something that they love and that, again, that's not what I was trying to do."