Woman fired after viral TikTok shows her questioning Black fisherman in Ga. neighborhood

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — A woman has lost her job after the company that hired her as an independent contractor says she was seen in a TikTok video that went viral.

In a TikTok that was initially shared with Channel 2 Action News, Anthony Gibson was fishing on a lake in his Newnan, Georgia neighborhood when a woman approached him and began questioning him and his friend.

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“How are you?”

“Good, how are you?”

“Are you guys residents here?”

“Are we bothering anyone?”

“This lake is for residents only, so.”

After the woman said this, she noticed Gibson had begun recording and said she did not permit him to record.

“This the third person, this is the third person, y’all,” Gibson said to the camera. “I’m in my own neighborhood and a white person came and bothered me while I’m fishing.”

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Gibson was referring to another TikTok he had posted where another man approached him while fishing.

“I get harassed when I go fishing because these privileged people don’t think I live in this nice neighborhood,” Gibson wrote in a caption of a video where police were called to investigate activities.

As the woman began to walk away, she continued yelling at Gibson that she did not permit him to film her.

“This is my phone; I can do whatever I want; I studied the law,” he said in response.

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On Wednesday, Sea Glass Therapy, a mental health service, confirmed that the woman who approached Gibson was an independent contractor for it.

Sea Glass Therapy posted the following statement on Facebook in response to the viral video:

“Sea Glass Therapy is a place of acceptance, healing, and inclusion of all people regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or background. We stand against discrimination of all forms. We have terminated our business relationship with the independent contractor, Tanya, in order to uphold our values and standards. We strive to be a service to our community and do whatever we can to accommodate the needs of it, operating with integrity.”

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