WARNING: This story contains details that readers may find disturbing and offensive.
Hamilton police are asking for witnesses to come forward after seeing a video of a Hamilton man hurling transphobic and racist slurs at passengers on an HSR bus.
Police issued a press release Tuesday about the three-minute video after CBC Hamilton asked the police service about it a day earlier. He also said the incident was reported through the service’s online reporting tool by a third party in another province.
The video, posted online Monday, appears to have been filmed from inside an HSR bus as it approached the Lawrence Road entrance to Gage Park.
The person who recorded the video appears to be a 42-year-old Hamilton man named Chris.
He streams regularly on YouTube and other social media platforms. His channel has numerous videos of him in heated confrontations with other people around town.
The transphobic rant that has gone viral is just a snippet of a now-deleted live stream that aired on Monday.
“This stuff breaks my heart,” Jyssika Russell, a member of the LGBTQ community in Hamilton, said on Twitter after the video was shared online for a while on Tuesday.
Russell works with The Enchanté Network, a network of 2SLGBTQI+ organizations in Canada, and told CBC Hamilton that the network is “very aware of the rising tide of hate across Canada, and Hamilton, unfortunately, has been an omen that elected officials at all levels should follow. and responding,” he said.
“Thriving, funded and supported 2SLGBTQI+ communities and organizations are our best response to homophobic and transphobic hatred.”
CBC Hamilton has seen the video but is not releasing it to protect the others in the video, who have not been identified and did not appear to consent to the recording, from further harm.
Streamer insults and threatens runners
In the video, Chris is sitting on an HSR bus heading to the Gage Park Friends Festival. He had also live-streamed the festival over the past few days.
“I don’t know what this silly, strange, transformer is laughing at,” Chris says, pointing to a passenger sitting in front of him.
“Does anyone love you?” replies the rider, apparently in defense.
Chris could be heard making fun of the people he’s filming, asking the rider what his pronouns are and insulting him some more.
“You’re swerving because no one gives a damn about you,” the pilot replies to Chris in the video.
In the live streamed video, Chris threatens the drivers of an HSR bus after hurling transphobic slurs at them. (Youtube)
Chris tells the rider to “get off the bus and tell me that” before threatening to hit the rider and making more transphobic comments.
“If you’re a man, I’ll beat you up,” he says in the video.
Chris then proceeds to insult another rider for the next minute or so of the video.
He then looks at a third rider, who is a person of color, and makes a racist comment, suggesting he “go back to Pakistan.”
As Chris begins to exit the bus, he accuses one of the first two riders of kicking him.
“Do it again, motherfucker,” he says as he takes a closed fist to the face of one of the riders.
“I’m going to kick you in the head,” he says as he exits the bus and starts walking toward Gage Park, swearing some more.
Streamer discusses anger in a separate video
In a separate live stream not long after the incident, Chris said he ended the stream, made the video private and will likely delete it, calling it an “insurance policy for myself.” .
“If I keep streaming when I’m like this, you guys are just going to keep cheering me on,” he told his small group of viewers.
Chris called it a “rare” encounter and “not my proudest moment,” but said he only made the video private to avoid being flagged by YouTube, adding that he wasn’t worried about breaking the law.
“I went a little hard. I realized after that run, I lost two [subscribers] … it is what it is, to all my local Hamiltonians, if you can’t handle stuff like that, then get off this channel,” he said.
“I’m sorry if this content bothers you, but if it’s any consolation, it bothers me too. I don’t like being like this… I don’t know why I got so turned on,” she said.
He did not respond to emails from CBC Hamilton and did not acknowledge CBC Hamilton’s comments in response to media requests in one of his live chats Monday evening.
The mayor describes the video as “reprehensible”
The video comes as Hamilton has seen a record number of hate crimes.
In 2021, police reported 108 hate incidents (87 of which were not considered crimes), a 35% increase on 2020, but the number is around average compared to previous years.
If anyone witnessed this objectionable incident or knows who this person is, please call Hamilton Hate Crimes Investigating Sergeant Rebecca Moran at 905-546-5511.
To report anonymously, contact Crime Stoppers at:
1-800-222-8477 or https://t.co/BOevcTOANp
—@HamiltonsMayor
Newly released data from Statistics Canada also shows that the country saw continued increases in rates of various criminal threatening and stalking behaviours. 2,073 hate crimes were reported in 2017 and 3,360 were reported nationally last year.
The number of reported hate crimes related to sexual orientation in Canada has more than doubled between 2017 and 2021, according to statistics, from 204 to 423, respectively.
Hamilton Police say they are urging any victims or witnesses to contact Hamilton Police Hate Crimes Investigating Sergeant Rebecca Moran at 905-546-5511 or Crime Stoppers.
Mayor Fred Eisenberger also encouraged people to come forward, calling the incident “reprehensible.”