Husband of CEO who confronted man writing BLM slogan on own property loses job over video

SAN FRANCISCO — Robert Larkin, the husband of the woman in the viral video confronting a man on his own property, has been fired by the Raymond James wealth management firm.

The firing is the latest in backlash after he and his wife, Lisa Alexander, accused James Juanillo of defacing private property. Juanillo had written “Black Lives Matters” on his own property with chalk, but the pair claimed that it wasn’t his home and that he was committing a crime.

Juanillo captured the incident on video which shows the confrontation in front of his San Francisco home.

In the video, Juanillo kept his cool while being repeatedly questioned by Alexander and her husband as to whether he lived in the house before they ultimately told him that they knew he didn’t live there and was breaking the law.

He doesn’t answer the couple but asks them to call the police. The couple then walk away, with Alexander saying, “Yes, we will do so.”

Juanillo, who is Filipino, told KGO-TV that he believes the couple accused him of defacing private property because they didn’t think he belonged in the wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood.

The video has sparked accusations of racism and led a cosmetics distributor to cut ties with Alexander. Birchbox, which distributes beauty products via a subscription service, announced Saturday that it has cut ties with her company.

Alexander apologized to Juanillo on Sunday after she accused him last week of defacing private property.

“There are not enough words to describe how truly sorry I am for being disrespectful to him last Tuesday when I made the decision to question him about what he was doing in front of his home,” Alexander said in a statement. “I should have minded my own business.”

Alexander also said in the statement that she was committed to learn from the experience and wants to apologize to Juanillo in person.

Juanillo said Sunday that he would be open to talking with Alexander. He said in the last several days, neighbors have left flowers and notes expressing support, with many adding chalk art to the retaining wall and sidewalk.

“For me this experience has left me feeling vindicated and validated. I imagine that she regrets those couple of minutes,” he said. “Do I believe that her life should be destroyed over this? No. I just hope that she realizes that what she did was racist and she can improve from this incident.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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