S.C. Governor Hopeful Caught on Body Cam Using Racial Slur During May Arrest
Maya Rivers — A wannabe poet waxing lyrical about the article, even if it doesn’t quite deserve it. Let the words fold into themselves like a small stage drama and strain to find poetry in a very public stumble.
The newly released Charleston Police body camera footage shows South Carolina gubernatorial candidate William “Mullins” McLeod Jr. vocally using the N-word during a May 2025 disorderly conduct arrest, an explosive development that deepens the political fallout already surrounding his campaign. TMZ obtained the clip from the Charleston Police Department and published the video on August 15, 2025, documenting McLeod’s loud, profanity-laced tirade inside a patrol vehicle.
On the video, McLeod rails in a nearly nonstop stream of expletives and grandiose claims, at one point shouting about buying Rolls-Royces, taking extravagant trips to the moon if he had a billion dollars, and fantasizing aloud about the office he now aspires to occupy when he says, “When I’m governor.” In a jarring and consequential moment, he drops a racial slur; moments later he oddly criticizes what he calls “this racist ass Donald Trump,” creating a jarring juxtaposition captured on camera.
Soundtrack irony punctuates the scene: as officers transport McLeod, a Taylor Swift song plays in the background, first “I Knew You Were Trouble” and then “Wildest Dreams,” a pair of soundtrack choices that TMZ notes feel unnervingly apt given the spiral. The recording originates from McLeod’s May arrest for disorderly conduct. After the incident, local media and political observers quickly questioned whether any credible campaign could survive such footage becoming public, especially in a state with a sizable Black population where racial sensitivities are both politically and socially consequential.
McLeod, who had been identified as the first Democrat to announce a 2026 bid for Governor Henry McMaster’s seat, now faces immediate career jeopardy. His campaign team told TMZ that McLeod will hold a press conference to address the newly released footage, signaling damage control efforts are underway. Whether a public explanation, apology, or contextual framing can reverse the political momentum lost remains uncertain; the clip’s stark language and unflinching audio make the controversy difficult to downplay.
Public records show the arrest was processed in May, and the decision to release body-worn camera footage followed standard protocol in many jurisdictions that allow disclosure of recordings tied to arrests. Media outlets have since dissected the clip, and political opponents are likely to seize on the moment for the foreseeable campaign season. Analysts note that a candidate using an explicit racial slur on police video faces not only immediate public relations fallout but potential lasting damage among voters who demand accountability and cultural sensitivity from elected officials.
McLeod’s case raises broader questions about vetting, accountability, and the interplay between private conduct and public candidacy. Campaign operatives and communication strategists will be watching his press conference closely for sincerity, contrition, and a credible plan to reconcile the comments with any commitment to serve all constituents equitably. Meanwhile, the footage’s release will almost certainly reshape the narrative turf in South Carolina’s 2026 gubernatorial cycle.
So here we stand: a campaign once nascent now caught in the glare of hard video and harder words, a public figure’s rhetorical misstep amplified by official recording devices and social-media hunger. The poet in me wants to find a cadence, a metaphor for the fall, but the facts are blunt: the video exists, the slur was uttered, the campaign scrambled. Watch for McLeod’s press conference and the reaction from party leaders, voters, and civil-rights advocates; the next chapter will reveal whether this is a brief sin of a stumble or a career-closing wound.
And thus the curtain falls for now on this act; the final lines remain unsaid, waiting for the next scene.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and TMZ, Charleston Police Department public records, local South Carolina news reports
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
