Aggressor in Viral Disney World Line Fight Issues Statement

One of the guests involved in a fight over line-cutting in EPCOT at Walt Disney World Resort that went viral online has spoken out.

The confrontation began after a group of young adults allegedly pushed in front of hundreds of guests waiting for Soarin’ Over California, claiming their family was further ahead. Other guests called them out and began filming as the young adults threw homophobic insults and cursed at them. (You can watch the full video here.)

The primary aggressor, later identified as KJ Brathwaite, spoke out immediately following the incident. He apologized for using foul language and lying about being a college football player. According to Brathwaite, his party was removed from the Soarin’ Over California line but not kicked out of EPCOT.

Later, Brathwaite uploaded another video about the altercation. He apologized again but claimed that the guests filming him made racially charged remarks before they hit record.

@ysl.kj

#fyp

♬ original sound – Kj Brathwaite

“There’s two sides to every story, you feel me?” he began. “I want to apologize to any kids that were around, and families that were around that had nothing to do with it, but, unfortunately, I got recorded when I was emotional at the time because these dudes gave racial slurs.”

Brathwaite maintained that he was walking to the front of the line to join his friends, who were already there when the guests confronted him.

“They said, ‘You guys are gonna skip, too?’ when they never got skipped,” he said. “That’s why we did not get kicked out of the park yesterday. The supervisor has that on camera.”

“Unfortunately, after we turned our backs, hard racial slurs started coming out,” Brathwaite continued. “I was the only Black dude in my group, so it couldn’t have been going at anybody but me. So, of course, they’re ready for me to start losing my mind… Not saying it was right at all; there’s different ways and better ways to handle stuff. I let my emotions get the best of me simply because why do you have to use racial slurs towards anybody?”

He argued that the original video was edited to exclude the racial comments.

“They recorded after they used the racial slurs,” Brathwaite concluded. “… Don’t use racial slurs toward somebody you don’t know and then try to record and defy a person’s character. I do not apologize to any of those dudes that were behind the recordings.”

 

Brathwaite said he would not comment further on the line fight at Walt Disney World Resort. Inside the Magic reached out to the other guests involved (@theme.park.vibes), but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Line-cutting is a contentious topic among Disney Parks fans, so much so that Walt Disney World Resort issued a new “courtesy” policy last year. They warned that breaking this theme park policy could result in ejection from Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

“Please show common courtesy to fellow Guests and our Cast Members by not using profanity or engaging in unsafe, illegal, disruptive, or offensive behavior, jumping lines or saving places in lines for others,” the new rule reads. “For your safety and the safety of others, please refrain from running except in designated areas.”

Should Walt Disney World Resort enforce line-cutting rules more strictly? 

Please note that the story outlined in this article is based on a personal Disney Parks guest experience. No two guest experiences are alike, and this article does not necessarily align with Inside the Magic’s personal views on Disney Park operations.

This post is originally appeared on Inside the Magic.