The accusation that Sean Spicer used a racial slur to describe a black student while in high school is not true, a lawyer for the former White House press secretary said Sunday.
The allegation is false and defamatory, Michael Bowe said in emails to the Associated Press.
The man, Alex Lombard, confronted Spicer at a book signing in Middletown, R.I., on Friday. He claims Spicer used a racial slur against him when they were classmates at Portsmouth Abbey School.
The AP documented the incident, and Bowe said Saturday night that the news organization “recklessly republished a categorically false accusation about Sean Spicer.”
“The claim is a lie. Absent an immediate retraction, Mr. Spicer will take legal action Monday,” Bowe said.
It is unclear if Spicer will still take legal against the AP as of Sunday afternoon.
“Sean, I was a day student at [Portsmouth] Abbey, too, with you,” Lombard said when approaching Spicer, a video published on NewportRI.com shows.
“Hey,” Spicer replied. “Yes, how are you?”
“You don’t remember that you tried to fight me?” Lombard said. “But you called me a [n-word] first.”
Lombard is then seen being escorted by security out of the event, yelling: “I was 14 then. I was a scared kid then, Sean. I’m not scared to fight you now.”
A publicist for Spicer told the AP he was “taken aback” by the “outrageous” claim.
Regnery Publishing publicist Lauren McCue said Spicer “can’t recall any incident” like the one the man described.
Spicer, 46, is currently on tour promoting his new book, The Briefing: Politics, The Press, and the President, about his time in the White House.
Spicer was communications director of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017, and its chief strategist from 2015 to 2017.
He was named White House press secretary in December 2016, and gave his first press conference on January 23, 2017.
Spricer resigned in July 2017, though he served the White House through August 2017.
