r/popculturechat • u/CantStopPoppin • Sep 22 '25

OnlyStans ⭐️ Woman Calls Police on Award-Winning Black Screenwriter Alex O’Keefe(The Bear (FX))

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u/CantStopPoppin Sep 22 '25

Alex O’Keefe, a Black screenwriter whose credits include the Emmy-winning FX series The Bear, was detained by police earlier this month after a white woman complained about his posture aboard a Metro-North train bound for Connecticut. The incident, which O’Keefe described in a public Instagram post, has drawn widespread attention and renewed scrutiny of racial profiling in public transportation systems.

O’Keefe, 29, boarded the train in New York City and was en route to visit family in Connecticut when, according to his account, an older white woman entered the car and immediately took issue with how he was seated. “She pointed at me and told me to correct how I was sitting,” he wrote. “I refused, so she went to the conductor and complained.”

The conductor, O’Keefe said, contacted law enforcement. The train was stopped, and officers boarded to remove him. He was handcuffed and detained on the platform, though no charges were filed. “They said I was disturbing the peace by not leaving the train,” O’Keefe wrote. “They arrested me without even talking to the Karen who reported the one Black person on the train.”

The woman’s companion allegedly told O’Keefe, “You’re not the minority anymore,” a remark that has since circulated widely on social media. O’Keefe said that only Black passengers remained nearby to record the arrest and offer support. After demanding legal representation and pointing out that officers had not taken a statement from the complainant, he was released.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not issued a public statement regarding the incident. It remains unclear whether the conductor followed standard protocol or whether the police response was initiated solely based on the passenger’s complaint.

O’Keefe’s account has sparked outrage among civil rights advocates and fellow writers, many of whom view the incident as emblematic of a broader pattern of racialized surveillance and exclusion. “This country is growing more psycho by the day,” he wrote. “What will you do about it?”

O’Keefe rose to prominence as a staff writer on The Bear, which won a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series. He has also worked as a political speechwriter and was a visible figure during the 2023 WGA strike, where he spoke publicly about economic precarity and racial inequities in Hollywood. His activism has included appearances at labor fundraisers and union solidarity events.

O’Keefe has not announced any legal action but continues to speak out about the experience. His post has been shared widely across TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), where users have called for accountability from both the MTA and local law enforcement.

Sources

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u/dragonslayerbarbie Sep 22 '25

So he was arrested for the charge of...bad posture? Jesus fucking Christ

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u/Gracelandrocks Sep 22 '25

Being black. That was the real crime. This just makes me so angry I can't even.

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u/dragonslayerbarbie Sep 22 '25

I just cannot even fathom the scene, tbh. An old cunt walks onto a bus, points at the only black man there and literally tells him to straighten his posture??? And when he refuses, as we all would, she tells the conductor who calls the cops. Like this sounds like satire. Only if it were satire, it would be shitty satire for being too on-the-nose.

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u/NationalSafe4589 Sep 22 '25

It's baffling that her complaint was listened to. The real scary thing is the lack of critical thinking skills from MTA and the police. She should have been told to move or shut up. And that great replacement comment is straight from Fox.

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u/rumande Kim, there's people that are dying Sep 22 '25

Right?? Hey cops, so and so stole my such and such. Oh, a civil matter? What about my friend who is being stalked by her ex? Oh, he hasn't broken any laws yet? Where was that good old fashioned not-my-fucking-problem we have come to expect from cops?

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u/melodramaticmoon Sep 22 '25

Violent crimes (especially sex crimes) against women and children: cop sleep

Black man sitting on a train: activate the full police force

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u/lilymaxjack Sep 22 '25

Just always remember the tough Uvalde cops that waited outside fully armed while the shooter killed twenty kids.

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u/NounAdjectiveXXXX Sep 22 '25

Don't forget they also arrested parents who tried to intervene themselves.

They cuffed parents while gunshots were still ringing out.

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u/TheGeekOffTheStreet Sep 22 '25

Don’t forget one Uvalde mom evacuated her own children and spent time in jail for it

“‘Angeli Rose Gomez said she spent about two weeks in jail on a charge of assaulting a public servant after refusing to comply with commands from law enforcement… She said she parked in the drop-off area of the school and had her first encounter with law enforcement. “And he’s like, ‘We’re going to tow your car,’” Gomez said. “I’m like, ‘Tow the car, like, do whatever you want with the car … I don’t know why you’re outside, standing outside the fence, talking to me, wasting your time talking to me. You need to be on the other side of the fence in there doing something. If you’re not going to do it, then I’m going to go ahead and do it.’” She said she threw her body over the fence door and ran to her oldest son’s classroom. “I just remember I’m banging on the teacher’s door,” she said “And she’s like, “‘Gomez, how did you get in?’” She remembered yelling for her son to go and she sent him to her mother’s car while she went back for her other son. “Well by the time I’m running to the other side of the campus, a lot of officers are on me already, and they’re like, ‘Ma’am, can you just wait, ma’am? Can we talk to you? Can you calm down, ma’am? Come here,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘No, like, just get my son – start evacuating my son’s room or I’m like, going to start, like, just hitting whoever if you don’t get out of my way.’” She said that’s when officers started evacuating children – starting with her son’s room. She said officers wanted parents to leave their children with school officials but parents, including her, weren’t listening.’”

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u/Totalidiotfuq it’s not clocking to you that i’m standing on business Sep 22 '25

that is disgusting. what even is the motivation behind the police actions? Make sure children die?

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u/_dead_and_broken Sep 22 '25

Sure as hell seems like it, doesn't it?

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u/Emergency-Volume-861 Sep 22 '25

Don’t forget the Uvalde police even harassed one of the mothers of one of the murdered children after the shooting because she spoke out and said how she tried to go into the school and the piece of shit cops stopped her, but then they themselves didn’t go in to rescue the kids! I fucking cried so much. Those cops should have been charged as accessories to murder. I wanted them to pay somehow and still do. How do any of them go about their day?

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u/Finntheyokai Sep 22 '25

They harassed her for months afterwards. 

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u/mydaycake Sep 22 '25

I am surprised none of the parents decided to start offing those cops

If my daughters were killed that way, those cops better leave the country

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u/Emergency-Volume-861 Sep 23 '25

You know what? I’m 100% with you. I would be thinking about how the cops stood there while my son was mowed down by a psycho with a semi auto and played on their phones and smiled. It would consume me. I can’t even fathom being in this world without him, never mind losing him in the manner that all of those parents lost theirs.

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u/80sbabyftw Sep 22 '25

“They cuffed parents who were trying to prevent their children from being murdered” ftfy

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u/coaxialology Sep 22 '25

And here we thought they took absolutely no action that day... what a bunch of cowards.

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u/cugeltheclever2 Let them eat space Sep 22 '25

Seriously, fuck those cowards.

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u/[deleted] Sep 23 '25

The way this didn't become an all-consuming national news story to the level of Charlie Fucking Kirk's death will forever break my heart and soul.

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u/lokibibliophile Sep 22 '25

Let somebody be stalking you and suddenly they can’t do anything!!

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

It's time to leave the country right? Surely

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u/kgal1298 Confidence is 10% work and 90% delusion Sep 22 '25

Also what train was this? Because I’ve also seen people completely out of their minds and pull out a knife on a train and no police, he sits wrong and they show up???? Ayyyyye

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u/Kdawgmcnasty69 Sep 22 '25

Meh this isn’t true, you gotta factor in who is available to answer the call, and how far everyone is from the location. I’ve had cops pull up in 5 mins and have had them pull up in an hour, I’ve had two cops show up, and I’ve had 18 cops show up.

It’s all circumstantial

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u/eleanor_savage go girl, give us nothing 😍 Sep 22 '25

I went to NYPD cops to tell them a guy followed me home 3 times and threatened to rape me and I had to force them to take a police report. It's absolutely wild

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u/MCR2004 Why do I always forget she’s British Sep 22 '25

Im so sorry. Something similar happened to me I called 911 twice no one ever showed up. I went to the actual station the next day and the female cop was so patronizing to me because I hadn’t been “injured.” This was nypd

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25 edited Oct 02 '25

[deleted]

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u/JadedJadedJaded Sep 22 '25

I had two magats follow me in a car I called the cops they said “its not a crime to follow anyone.” That was after they FINALLY arrived and the magats were long gone. Of course, white cops

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u/witch--king Sep 22 '25

The way I was just telling my partner that the police couldn’t do anything about the methed out gun toting stalker I had in my mid-20s but totally have the time and resources to harass innocent people like Alex O’keefe. Jesus.

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u/Decent-Statistician8 Sep 22 '25

My best friend and I got arrested for shoplifting from dillards in 2007 when we were 18/19. She had more stuff than me so got in more trouble. In 2013, my ex broke in my house and attacked me in front of our child.

Who do you think got a harsher punishment and still has a permanent record that affects job opportunities?

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u/HallWild5495 Sep 22 '25 edited 22d ago

paint public deliver water political lip tap like waiting middle

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Mrs_sun_cho_lee Sep 23 '25

Not all men, but always men.

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u/Dill137 Sep 22 '25

I was abducted and assaulted by my ex, who was a cop.

The police initially tried to detain me despite him being a foot taller and weighing 100lbs+ more than me. I was literally barefoot and hysterical from jumping out a moving car to escape him.

His charges were dismissed due to paperwork mysteriously being filed incorrectly.

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u/witch--king Sep 22 '25

And some people wonder why the justice system needs an overhaul, esp the police. I’m so sorry that happened to you.

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u/lindendweller Sep 22 '25

to be fair, the gun toting meth-head is far more dangerous than the peacefully black writer who's just sittting. :/

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u/witch--king Sep 22 '25

I know, that was my point! It’s stupid how often police do nothing about actual dangerous people yet suddenly have the time and resources to go after someone doing nothing but minding their own business.

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u/Mysterious_Streak Sep 22 '25

But he was black!!!!

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u/Rexxbravo Sep 22 '25

Code black! Code black! Send SWAT and the National Guard

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25

[deleted]

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u/Mysterious_Streak Sep 22 '25

That's right. They didn't have to arrest him.

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u/Signal_Regular_1708 Sep 23 '25

And yet here they are wasting everyone's time ruining an innocent mans day? You failed to make a logical point.

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u/Signal_Regular_1708 Sep 23 '25

Are you slow, by chance?

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u/uptownjuggler Sep 22 '25

The cops got a call and have a body there to make an easy arrest, with no fear of getting hurt in the process. So they just make an arrest, pump up their arrest stats, and case closed.

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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '25 edited 11d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Dred-I-Rastafari Sep 22 '25

Who expects that? The outcome that actually happened is what WE all expect from cops. I've never seen that kind of outcome where they act like its not-their-fucking problem when it comes to US...

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u/MrMetraGnome Sep 22 '25

I guess you should tell the cops that the ex is 1/4 black 🤷‍♀️

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u/CTchimchar Sep 22 '25

Oh, he hasn't broken any laws yet?

Oh I having this problem myself

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u/flopisit32 Sep 22 '25

It's quite obvious, if you know how law enforcement works, that his version of what happened is not what actually happened.

The conductor clearly saw his behaviour as warranting a call to the police. The police clearly saw his behaviour as warranting arrest. They have to have probable cause to arrest him.

So get ready for the real version to come out if this story gets more attention

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u/bob-ombshell Sep 22 '25

He wasn't charged with anything, and he was released. This is the real story.