Distinguished educational and activist Marc Lamont Hill lately provided a candid, granular account of a distressing 2024 incident by which an alleged stalker assaulted him onstage.
Talking on the June 12 episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Hill confirmed he was “pepper-sprayed” in the course of the Q&A phase of a talking engagement held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Philadelphia, straight throughout from his unbiased bookstore, Uncle Bobbie’s Espresso & Books.
“I used to be mad as shit,” Hill recounted to his co-hosts, who exhibited amusement on the weird narrative. Pressed on whether or not he pursued authorized motion or pressed costs towards the alleged perpetrator—actions that would ostensibly battle together with his long-held public stances on the felony justice system—Hill was unequivocal. “Sued? N***a, please. You may hear me on the tape say, ‘Don’t name the police,’” he asserted. “I stroll it like I speak it. She was mentally sick. She had been stalking me for a few weeks, and I didn’t know. I by no means met her earlier than.”
Hill’s co-hosts continued to recommend the incident stemmed from a soured extramarital affair facetiously.
“None of that is true. She was loopy as f*ck,” Hill countered, meticulously detailing the girl’s conduct. “I used to be standing there, giving a speech. She stands up for a Q&A. She had written a letter to me, saying that she was making an attempt to speak to me about how the CIA and Joe Biden have been making an attempt to border her for homicide.” Hill additional revealed that the girl had beforehand defaced his bookstore with purple spray paint and had meant to hurl a brick by way of its window earlier than police intervention.
In line with authorities, he claimed, they merely issued the girl a ticket and launched her.
He recollected the moments previous the assault with chilling readability, initially dismissing the girl till she approached the microphone and uttered her identify. “It began clicking who she was,” he described. “I’m safety. She was like, ‘I simply need to speak about what occurred to me.’ And I used to be like, ‘I simply need to be clear that I’ve by no means met you earlier than.’ [She said], ‘You don’t know me, Marc? You don’t know me, Marc?’ She begins coming towards me. I stated, ‘I would like you to cease strolling’ … I’m sitting within the chair … I’m pondering she’s reaching for a gun. I’m pondering, ‘If she’s about to shoot me, this can be a actually horrible solution to die.’”
Earlier than he might react, she deployed the spray.
“She acquired me within the eye,” Hill recalled.
Joe Budden TV discovered and posted the video footage of the 2024 assault on-line, depicting the girl approaching Hill, extracting a can of pepper spray from her pocket, and deploying it.
The 46-year-old activist and journalist promptly recoiled behind the stage curtains, as a person leaped in to intervene to restrain the assailant. Hill returned to the stage moments later, informing the viewers of the girl’s prior vandalism at his bookstore and explicitly stating, “We’re not gonna name the cops.”
Marc Lamont Hill talked about on the Joe Budden podcast that he was pepper sprayed as soon as whereas talking. Welp JBTV discovered the recordsdata! 😂👀
(Discover how he tells them to not name the police proving MLH ain’t simply speak )🔥 pic.twitter.com/FH0ID1f0vz— After Hours X JBTV (@JBTVSpaces) June 11, 2025
Hill later elucidated the scenario by way of a submit on X (previously Twitter) on Thursday, reassuring his followers of his well-being. He affirmed that he has since engaged in a restorative course of with the girl and her household to facilitate her restoration.
“The video of me being pepper-sprayed was from January 2024,” he wrote. “On the time, the attacker believed that I used to be a part of a conspiracy (together with the CIA, Mumia Abu Jamal, and the president) to cowl up traumatic occasions from her childhood. Since then, after refusing to press costs, I’ve labored together with her household and group members to allow a restorative course of.”
He elaborated on her circumstances: “By means of the method, I’ve discovered that she did certainly endure vital childhood abuse, in addition to severe psychological well being challenges that proceed to this present day. As an alternative of felony prosecution, I’ve finished my finest to make it possible for she receives social and psychological well being assist to assist her heal as finest as doable.”
I’m nice, everybody. The video of me being pepper sprayed was from January 2024. On the time, the attacker believed that I used to be a part of a conspiracy (together with the CIA, Mumia Abu Jamal, and the president) to cover-up traumatic occasions from her childhood. Since then, after refusing…
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) June 12, 2025
MLH is certainly the person for this.
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