2020 2020’d on Thursday when the internet discovered what many believed was a real-life Clayton Bigsby.
On Wednesday, a report by local Alabama news station WHNT interviewed members of the protest group “Captain John Rayburn Camp 452 Sons of Confederate Veterans”, who are opposing the removal of Confederacy monuments.
One member of the group in particular, Daniel Sims, caught Twitter’s attention — because he is Black.
“Regardless how the next person feel, I’m not gonna take my flag down. If I got anything to do with it, ain’t no monument going to come down,” he told the reporter.
Wearing a Confederate baseball cap and carrying a Confederate flag, Sims revealed that he was adopted as a child by an all-white family.
“My whole family’s white. I went to all white school. Grew up in an all-white neighborhood. My grandfather was white and he was the main one that fought in this war here and he’s taught me everything I know,” he said.
“It may make my blood boil if they just come up here and feel like they can just tear it down. I don’t see me still living if they do that right there. That monument ain’t hurtin nobody. That monument ain’t killin a soul. It’s ain’t talkin bad to nobody. It ain’t even racist.”
The interview immediately drew comparisons with Dave Chappelle’s infamous creation: a heavily racist member of the Ku Klux Klan — who is blind and doesn’t realize he is Black.
“Dave Chappelle was way ahead of his time… dude is a real life Clayton Bigsby,” one tweeted.
“Only 2020 could reveal a real-life Clayton Bigsby,” tweeted another.
“People thought Dave Chappelle was just exaggerating when he introduced the world to Clayton Bigsby. No, he was serious,” posted a third.
Some refused to believe the interview was even real: “His accent is suspect. I think dude is out there making a Borat movie,” one skeptical user shared.
Across the country protesters have been pushing for the removal of Confederate flags and monuments because of their historic racist ties, in a movement refueled by the death of George Floyd beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May.
The group attempting reform in Marshall County, which Sims was protesting, is called Say Their Names Alabama.
