Posted on 11/06/2025 1:40:27 PM PST by Third Person
Stonington — A social media video showing a local business operator using a racial slur sparked immediate and universal backlash from her fellow merchants.
The video, which emerged last weekend, shows Michelle Stone, 54, of Mystic, using the n-word during a verbal altercation with several people, at least one of whom is Black.
Stone began operating the Velvet Espresso Bar in the Velvet Mill last month and celebrated the business' ribbon-cutting on Saturday.
New London firefighter and amateur food critic Al Mayo initially posted the video to a Facebook group, but it was taken down, according to Mayo.
On Wednesday, he said that in his initial post, he saw many comments from people saying they did not hear Stone use the word, so he posted an edited version to his Facebook page.
The edited version, he said, was meant to highlight where he said he can hear Stone say the word by replaying it several times. He provided an unedited 59-second clip to The Day.
The unedited clip does not show what led to the altercation but begins with an off-camera individual calling Stone a racist, followed by some arguing and a series of sexually explicit insults coming from an off-camera male.
Stone engages in the argument, and then as she walks away, she uses the n-word. She then stops and begins pointing at individuals in the group calling some of them “dip shit,” and one she calls the n-word.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Stone said the altercation began when a fire alarm went off inside The Dock bar and the Port of Call bar. She said when she exited she saw a group of young adults recording a video and saying there was a fire at the Port of Call.
Stone said there was no fire and asked them to stop spreading misinformation on social media, which led to the altercation.
She said at least one male individual began hurling sexually explicit insults and making sexually suggestive comments and that she felt physically threatened.
In tears, she repeatedly expressed her regret and humiliation over her use of the word. She said she was in “fight or flight mode” because she had been in an abusive marriage for decades.
She said she voluntarily left the Velvet Mill and shuttered the business because she did not want the other business owners to be negatively impacted by her mistake.
In a letter Stone said she sent to the other mill business owners, she conveyed her deep regret for her use of the word and explained that she had reacted without thinking out of fear. She added she knew her explanation did not “erase the harm” but that her actions did not reflect her values.
“I made a hurtful and thoughtless remark that was racially insensitive, and I am deeply ashamed of it. I understand how much pain my words have caused and how they’ve reflected on all of us,” she wrote. “I am committed to learning from this, listening, and making sure this never happens again.
“You did not deserve to be placed in that vulnerable position, and I am sorry you were forced to respond with an appropriate and well worded statement,” she concluded before asking for forgiveness, empathy and grace.
Business owner and Velvet Mill Managing Partner Eric Pivco said Wednesday that Stone was no longer with the business and that the business was closed indefinitely.
He pointed out the altercation did not occur in the Velvet Mill and he does not want the Mill or its businesses associated with the incident.
Velvet Mill business owners, in a post on the Mill’s Instagram page, said the business was permanently closed and the “short term leaseholder” was no longer a tenant of the Velvet Mill.
“This was a clear and necessary decision to uphold the integrity of our community,” the statement read.
The statement went on to note that each of the businesses within the mill are individually owned and operated and their owners should not be held responsible for the behavior of another tenant.
Zest owner Gabriella Withrow said Wednesday that, without exception, the entire community of owners had condemned Stone immediately, and expressed that many of them were worried this would taint the Velvet Mill, impacting their businesses.
Stone also withdrew her membership from the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce.
“Once we became aware of the video, we had communications with Michelle," chamber President Lisa Konicki wrote in a statement Wednesday. "The Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce stands firmly against racism, sexism, and all forms of discrimination. We are committed to treating every person with fairness, dignity, and respect. Our organization supports equality and inclusion in all that we do, and we reject hate or prejudice in any form.”
At the beginning of a second call Wednesday with Stone, an unidentified male voice was heard mid-sentence saying, “play the victim here.”
When asked who the other individual on the phone was, Stone denied that anyone else was on the call, and said it was a friend of hers who had just left and who was worried for her safety.
Stone said she and her friends fear for her safety and her children’s safety after Mayo posted the video and photos taken from her social media containing her children’s faces.
She said her use of the n-word had destroyed her livelihood and her life, so she has nothing to lose by calling Mayo out for what she said was abusive behavior, and that she did not “need to play the victim, because I am a victim of Al Mayo."
She added that people need to know what a bully Mayo is, and that when people defended her on social media, he accused them of being racists and bullied them into silence.
She said that by not revealing his source for the video, Mayo shielded the individuals who said things to her and accused her of being paid for sex work while he destroyed her life with an edited video that made it seem she repeated the word over and over.
In Mayo’s edited version, he replays her saying the word seven times.
The unedited version is hard to make out, as many people are speaking at once, but Stone appears to say the word at least twice, though Mayo said he heard it more times.
Stone also accused Mayo of stalking her by going to the Velvet Mill to see if she was there or if the business had been shut down.
Mayo said he posted the video because he believes in holding people accountable and that his editing was not the issue, her use of the word was, as using it even once was unacceptable.
The way I see it, anyone using the n-word is just ignorant.
In other news:
Rap.
No double standards. If it’s OK for rappers.....
Damn. If the far-left maggots actually went after criminals who committed crimes, there wouldn’t be any crime.
IMHO the real double standard is blacks getting away with racial slurs against whites. Which happens a lot.
All those yelling for her business to fail should consider the logic of “forgiveness”.
Who among us has not yelled or thought about yelling something really vulgar when unplanned disruptions happen out of nowhere? Some complainers only want the power of playing the ‘hurt’ victim.
Ignorant of the potential consequences.....
Of course it’s impolite, but I reserve my right to call someone any damn name I want.
The pos who recorded her and had to edit the tape and listen over and over to finally hear it, says he wants to “hold people accountable”
Who holds that creep accountable for every facet of his life?
And the poor woman had to apologize like a baby and shut down her business.
Screw the censors.
change the business name and move to a nearby location. That’s all.
These social media scandals and their participants have the attention span of a squirrel.
She and everyone need to learn the same lesson: Stop apologizing to the virtue signaling left. They won’t forgive you anyway. In this case the truth is she doesn’t really want their forgiveness, or their company judging by her demonstrated feelings, so why bother?
So, help me understand. People claim that they are hurt by words, yet judges say that it’s ok to threaten to kill someone and their children. Very confusing!!
We’ve allowed the Left to demonize the use of that word over all other racial slurs. It may not be polite to say but it’s just a word, no better or worse than any other of it’s kind.
What’s next - getting the death penalty for even *thinking* the n-word?
This is in Connecticut for those wondering.
Stonington does not have a whole lot of black people, last time I checked.
“The way I see it, anyone using the n-word is just ignorant.”
She was provoked by these idiots of color, who do not know to behave in pubic. You might do the same. Meanwhile they call each other N all the time.
Stereotypes exist for a reason
Using sexually demeaning language is the same low as racist. And it ought be permitted like calling someone a nazi.
Is her ignorance different from theirs? Well yes....she apologized, though still hurt.
Fight or flight means throw every weapon you can grab. Like black politic8ans calling me whitey when they are losing in the polls.
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