• James Juanillo said a white couple called the police on him for stenciling “Black Lives Matter” in chalk onto his own property.
  • Juanillo posted a now-viral video of his interaction with the couple to Twitter, where it had over 16 million views at the time of writing on Monday.
  • Birchbox identified the woman in the video as Lisa Alexander, the owner of LaFace, a skin-care company that has been featured in Birchbox products, and the company released a statement saying it cut ties with LaFace as a result of the incident.
  • The financial services firm Raymond James identified the man in the video as Robert Larkin, and it announced on Monday that Larkin had been let go as a result of the incident.
  • Alexander issued an apology to Juanillo on Sunday, saying she was “taking a hard look at the meaning behind white privilege” and was “committed to growing from the experience.”
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A white couple was caught on tape accusing a man of color of vandalizing his own property and lying about knowing the owner of the building, a scene described by James Juanillo on Twitter.

Juanillo is a San Francisco resident and business owner, and he rents a home in the city.

He was stenciling “Black Lives Matter” in chalk outside his home when the couple, who identified themselves as Lisa and Robert, stopped him on Friday.

"Are you defacing private property?" Robert asked him at the beginning of the video. "You're free to express your opinions. Just not on people's property."

"So if I did live here and it was my property, this would be absolutely fine?" Juanillo asked the couple. "And you don't know if I live here or if this is my property."

"We actually do know," Lisa responded, claiming to know the homeowner. Her statement turned out to be false, as Juanillo wrote in his tweet. Brad Gilbertson, one of the owners of the building, told ABC 7 News that he didn't know the couple. In addition, Juanillo wrote in a tweet that he had lived in his home for 18 years.

It's also worth noting that Juanillo was writing with chalk, so the stenciling was not permanent.

chalk black lives matter incident

Foto: James Juanillo was writing with chalk. Source: Screenshot/Twitter

At the end of the video, Juanillo suggested that Robert and Lisa should call the police if they felt unsafe because of him. They did, and the police drove by Juanillo's house shortly after the interaction, as he told ABC 7 News.

"The police came and recognized me immediately as a resident of the house and left without getting out of their patrol car," Juanillo said. "I didn't even show them my ID."

"What she did is polite racism," Juanillo also told ABC 7 News. "It's respectable racism. 'Respectfully, sir I don't think you belong here.'"

Juanillo's video went viral after he posted it, having over 16 million views at the time of writing on Monday. Juanillo did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on the interaction.

Lisa and Robert have not been independently identified, but Birchbox seemed to confirm that the woman in the video was Lisa Alexander, the owner of the skincare company LaFace. In a tweet, the company announced that it was cutting ties with LaFace because of the incident.

"Thank you to the Birchbox community for speaking up and speaking out, and bringing the racist actions of Lisa Alexander to our attention," the statement said.

Likewise, Raymond James, a financial services firm appeared to confirm that Lisa's husband is Robert Larkin. He worked for the company until Monday. In a tweet, the company announced he had been let go because of his actions to Juanillo.

"An inclusive workplace is fundamental to our culture, one in which people are free to bring their whole selves to their careers, and we expect our associates to conduct themselves appropriately inside and outside the workplace," the statement read, adding that Robert had been let go after an internal investigation.

Lisa Alexander issued an apology to Juanillo on Sunday, as reported by CBS San Francisco's Kenny Choi on Twitter.

"I want to apologize directly to Mr. Juanillo," the statement said. "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. I should have minded my own business."

The statement went on to say Alexander was shocked by her own behavior when she saw the video. "I did not realize at the time that my actions were racist and have learned a painful lesson. I am taking a hard look at the meaning behind white privilege and am committed to growing from the experience."

She also said she hoped to get coffee with Juanillo at some point soon to have a "dialogue" in person about the experience.

LaFace's website is unavailable, and all of its social-media accounts have been deactivated. Alexander's LinkedIn page and social-media accounts are also no longer active. LaFace and Larkin did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

You can read Lisa Alexander's full statement here.

UPDATE: June 15, 2020: This article was originally published on June 14 and has been updated to reflect a statement issued by Raymond James, the financial services company where Robert Larkin was previously employed. Larkin, who appears in Juanillo's video, has been identified as Lisa Alexander's husband.