Arcade owner apologizes for using N-word at Black Lives Matter protest

It was the word heard around Tacoma. Then the Internet. We all know the word. And most should know not to use it.

But Dorky’s Arcade co-owner Les Voros-Bond says he was unaware of how potent the word could be after he was caught on video yelling the N-word at a Black Lives Matter protester in Tacoma.

“I didn’t realize the powerfulness of the word,” Voros-Bond said. “I’m not racist.”

The arcade owner is now offering a personal apology to anyone offended by his use of the N-word during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Tacoma on Aug. 9.

Related: Rantz says Black Lives Matter leaders and supporters are classless

“I will personally apologize to every person in the protest and anybody who is in the Black Lives Matter movement,” Voros-Bond told AM 770 KTTH host Ben Shapiro. “I believe all lives matter, first of all; white lives, black lives, yellow lives, everything.”

Voros-Bond further offered to use his arcade to throw a fundraiser for the Black Lives Matter movement, which he said would help get their message out and be more effective than the demonstrations.

“Rather than blocking the street off and scaring people and chanting,” he said. “I didn’t know what it really was about at first, and I had to do research. That’s when I apologized to them in the street.”

What Voros-Bond specifically apologized for was his actions during the Sunday afternoon protest. The Black Lives Matter protesters demonstrate in the streets of Tacoma each Sunday. Voros-Bond claims they block off the street and stall traffic in front of the businesses, which he found frustrating.

“So I’m like, ‘Now what is going on out here.’ There was a big group of protesters so I’m trying to help traffic get through,” he said.

Voros-Bond said he was attempting to get traffic through the protestors, but also admits he was goofing off and disturbing the demonstration. He marched, weaving through the crowd with a bullhorn blasting sirens.

“It started out with me goofing around because I didn’t know what the protest was about in the beginning,” he said. “Then I was directing traffic, and they were harassing me while I was directing traffic trying to get cars through.”

His antics were caught on camera, unknown to him. That video also caught him using the N-word when confronting a protester.

Voros-Bond claims they used the word on him first and he was repeating it back to them.

“And they are giving me a really hard time out there and they were actually pushing and shoving me around and they were calling me all kinds of really bad racial slurs,” he said. “The same word that I was being accused of using was used on me.”

“What you heard on the video was me actually repeating what they said to me,” he said. “And they kept repeating that word to me.”

After the situation calmed down and he did some research on what the protesters were demonstrating about, Voros-Bond said he went back to apologize to the man he faced off with on the video.

“I went out there and shook his hand and went man-to-man with him and was like, ‘Dude, I’m really sorry, I was out of line. It shouldn’t have escalated that far,'” he said.

Voros-Bond said he is not racist, nor is his arcade a racist business, further noting he has a girlfriend of Korean descent and a son with her. He also said, as evidence, that he used to be a DJ, inspired by Run DMC.

“Now we have threats against my family. My employees are receiving threats. Everybody is calling to boycott the business which I’ve tried to make the funnest place in Tacoma,” Voros-bond said. “I try to make this a really fun, great place to be, and we don’t believe in this kind of hate and stuff like that. It’s totally not what we are for. To be portrayed like this off of a short YouTube video is just killing us.”