Photo: Getty Images
A California clinic has sparked outrage online after labeling a Black woman's medical sample "King Kong."
In a now-viral TikTok video, Kierra King detailed the "blatant racism" behind an incident where a medical assistant at Perlman Clinic Modern Healthcare printed her name on a test kit as "King Kong."
The video began with King bringing the racist label to another staffer's attention.
"Can you tell me what's wrong with this sample?" King said as she handed the worker her sample.
"Oh my God, I'm sorry," a clinic worker said off-camera after noticing the "King Kong" label.
"Can you understand as a Black woman why I would have a problem with that?" King responded.
The TikToker explained to the worker that her last name is "King" before questioning the staffer on how someone could mistakenly type her first name, "Kierra," as "Kong."
The staffer said she was unaware of who printed the label. King's name was written correctly on a chart in the clinic's computer system.
"How does that happen?" King questioned of the incident.
Later in the video, the staffer who was uninvolved in the incident located the medical assistant who printed the racist label.
The assistant addressed King, saying, "It wasn't my intention to do that." She then tried to claim that she had King double-check the name on the label before she took her sample.
"No, you didn't," King insisted.
The medical assistant then blamed the incident on how fast she was typing.
"I type really fast. I don't double-check when I'm typing fast," she told King.
The video ended with King asking the medical assistant for her name to report her.
"@Perlmanclinic this is beyond unacceptable. my story is just one instance of blatant racism. things like this are happening every single day. i am making the decision to use my personal social media as a platform to continue to bring awareness to the gravity of how out of control things have gotten in the united states and in the world. this action is incomprehensibly bad. it's the kind of action that leaves one without words. do better humans. do better," King captioned her video.
TikTok users flooded King's comment section with support, urging her to sue the clinic.
"I hope you take legal action," one TikTok user wrote.
"As a former healthcare worker, that was NOT a mistake," another said.
"She thought typing King Kong was funny and then didn’t change it before it was printed. She meant it, but she didn’t think the patient would ever see it. File all the reports," a third person commented.
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