Pennsylvania’s Second Lady Gisele Barreto Fetterman Called N-Word At Grocery Store

Pennsylvania’s Second Lady Gisele Barreto Fetterman was subject to insults and racial slurs on Sunday after she decided to go to the grocery store without her security detail.

The wife of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman told various news outlets that she had just intended to stop by her local grocery store to pick up some kiwis when a woman recognized her and started yelling racial slurs at her.

“She said, ‘There’s that n-word that Fetterman married,'” Fetterman told Newsweek. “She called me a thief. There was a woman behind me who said, ‘Are you alone? Please don’t walk to the car by yourself, I walk you.’ She was very lovely.”

After checking out, the second lady left the store and got into her car. The angry woman followed her out and Fetterman captured part of the tirade against her on video.

She shared the clip on Twitter with the caption, “I love love love this country but we are so deeply divided. I ran to the local grocery store and was met by and verbally assaulted by this woman who repeatedly told me I do not belong here. The confrontation continued into the parking lot where I was able to finally capture it after the crying winded down. This behavior and this hatred is taught.”

The video shows a woman pulling down her facemask to say “You’re a n*****,” through the car window.

“If you know her, if she is your neighbor or relative, please, please teach her love instead,” Fetterman said.

“The ethnic intimidation and racist speech spewed at the Second Lady of Pennsylvania is shameful and unacceptable,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in a statement. “Racism and hate speech are always unacceptable, and unworthy of Pennsylvanians. No Pennsylvanian should ever be made to feel unwelcome in our commonwealth because of their race or ethnicity. Gisele Fetterman spends much of her time devoted to making our state and world a better place and she — and every Pennsylvanian — deserves our respect, not the hatred too often displayed by people who seek only to further divide this country at a time when unity is so desperately needed.”

Fetterman came to the United States from Brazil with her family when she was a child. She grew up as an undocumented immigrant in New York City, and didn’t get a green card until she was 22. She is very public about her experience as an immigrant, and said she has received hate online, but never in person.

“The fact that she was so comfortable and bold to just do it to my face with an audience … that was really scary,” Fetterman told the Washington Post.

Fetterman did not officially become a U.S. citizen until 2009, a year after she married John Fetterman, who was serving as mayor of Braddock at the time. The couple has three children together: Karl, Gracie and August.

“I came to this country as a young child, fleeing violence in my country. I dreamed of being a citizen, of being able to vote. I love this country so much. I say that I’m more American than most Americans because my love for this country runs very deep,” she told Newsweek.