Man reports another anti-gay hate crime in New York

Kevin Kiadii, 25, an alleged victim of Elmo voice-actor Kevin Clash, was beaten up in Prospect Park

Published June 1, 2013 3:51PM (EDT)

Twenty five year-old Kevin Kiadii, who in April became the fifth man to accuse Elmo voice actor Kevin Clash of sexual abuse, was allegedly targeted in an anti-gay hate crime, continuing a disturbing trend of recent anti-gay attacks in New York City.

Kiadii told CBS New York that he was beaten up by a group of teenagers in Brooklyn's Prospect Park:

“The shortest one out of them, he was a hot head, he jumped in my face and started saying anti-gay slurs,” Kiadii said.

He said that one took on a fighting stance, and Kiadii told them they should back away.

“When I said that, the one that was really intoxicated jumped into my face and said ‘I’m going to [expletive] you up’ and do this and ‘you F and [expletive],’ and I went into my bag, and pulled out my bottle of perfume, to imitate pepper spray,” Kiadii said.

Police arrested the teens, aged 13 to 18, for gang assault and aggravated harassment as a hate crime.


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Gay Rights Hate Crimes Homophobia Lgbt New York City Violence