A Northern California man has been caught on camera berating his neighbors during the 4th of July holiday in a racist tirade over playing Spanish-language music at their party.
Video of the confrontation taken by Ivette Celedon shows the backyard neighbor showing up at her family's front door complaining about the music her family was playing while waiting for the fireworks show.
“This is the 4th of July. Just wait, m**** f****,” the neighbor can be heard saying in the video in an apparent threat to the family.
Celedon told KPIX 5 that her father-in-law had set up a speaker out back to play music, saying it wasn't loud at all, and certainly no louder than her neighbor's July 4th party every year.
Video of the confrontation was posted to Celedon's Facebook profile, where it had been viewed more than 700,000 times by Friday morning.
“So in a family backyard bbq we’re not allowed to have Spanish music because it’s disrespectful to the country?????” Celedon posted on Facebook. “Land of the free right? Celebrating independence!!! We are celebrating Independence Day just like everyone else! #neverhadaproblemuntil2018.”
The footage begins with the camera pointing down as the voice of the neighbor, identified as Larry Lappin, can be heard scolding his Latino neighbors at their front door for playing music in Spanish. At one point, Lappin can be heard yelling about how no one should "disrespect my f***ing country" and "you want to do that on the Fourth of July ... throw it in my face?"
In a phone interview with KPIX, Lappin offered his apologies to the family, saying he was sorry for his unhinged rant.
“I made a huge mistake,” Lappin said. “I had been drinking too much and a little thing set me off and it really bugged me.”
“Sometimes I wish they would assimilate more. I hear them playing [Spanish language] music in the backyard all the time and it doesn’t bother me. Because of the day and what July 4th means to me, I felt disrespected,” Lappin said.
He says he has been hoping to apologize to the family for his action in person.