The last 24 hours have left folks aghast at the story and accusations surrounding Jessica Krug, the white George Washington University professor who admitted on Thursday that she had been lying about her race for all of her professional career.
Krug has received years of accolades, prizes, fellowships, awards and positions for her work while constantly proclaiming a variety of racial and ethnic identities that were not hers, including Black, Puerto Rican, North African, "biracial," Colombian and more. In a Medium post, she revealed that she has two white parents and is from Kansas City.
As the shock, and jokes, from the revelation continued to splay out online, dozens of people, including some high-profile activists and thought leaders, revealed their own past interactions with Krug.
Despite being white, Krug had spent years bashing, criticizing and demeaning Black and Latino women for their work or for not being "real" and "hood" enough, according to many people who took to Twitter and Facebook to air out their anger. Many Black women online said they spent years calling her out but were routinely ignored when they questioned her heritage or background.
The important thing to note and remember here is that Jessica Krug never would've told the truth about her lies had it not been for the Afro-Latina scholars who made calls and did research. Jessica would still find ways to profit off of Blackness had it not been for them. https://t.co/XL39yog6wB
— When is the General Strike? (@SoulRevision) September 3, 2020
Here are some of the craziest videos and tales from people and institutions that dealt with Krug over the years. While none of the accounts have been verified, they're worth a read.
That awful blaccent
One of the first examples of Krug's blatant ethnic impersonation was at a recent New York City Council meeting in June.
In the video, which has been panned and clowned across the internet, Krug uses crude sounding blaccents and poorly used New York slang to criticize the city council.
As many have noted, listening to her speak makes one wonder how she made it for as long as she did.
In the video, she refers to Black and brown people as her "siblings" and routinely criticized white people for not yielding their time during meetings with Black people, a comment that is outrageously cringeworthy now that we know her actual race.
Her words at from the virtual gathering were even quoted in a New Yorker article.
The clownery was detected early on
On Twitter, dozens of people said something was always off about Krug but that they did not feel they had the right to questions someone's race.
I was introduced to her by a colleague who was being honored at the Fredrick Douglass Book Prize ceremony this yr. She went by “Jess La Bombalera” & said she was Puerto Rican
She asked me what part of the Bronx I’m from, I said “by Bronx River Houses” and she said “me too”…… https://t.co/u6mdASPlzD
— Ivie Ani (@ivieani) September 3, 2020
All I know is, a lot of heavy hitters in academia vouched for her and stood next to her and I feel bad for all the black and brown people she duped. Unfortunate
— Ivie Ani (@ivieani) September 3, 2020
A reporter says she brought the fraudulence to Tinder
A HuffPost reporter said he was unfortunately tangentially clowned after he openly admitted that he matched with her on Tinder, only for her to rip him for his political views. Somehow he has not deleted this yet.
She deleted her Tinder so I can't show y'all, and I know none of y'all will believe this actually happened, but I matched with Jessica Krug — the white woman pretending to be Black — on Tinder a couple years back and she went in on me for not caring about Black people enough.
— Ja'han Jones (@_Jahan) September 3, 2020
Karma's wild
Award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones even noted that Krug criticized the groundbreaking, widely adored 1619 Project.
And this chick tried to come for the 1619 Project. Ain’t this some ish. pic.twitter.com/Fd21VNSubQ
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) September 4, 2020
That was quick
In a now-deleted story for Essence that was published five days ago, Krug wrote about protests from the perspective of a Black person from Puerto Rico.
Jessica Krug published this piece 5 days ago.
What happened between then and now? pic.twitter.com/R6LLPUZZS2
— Whatever 2020 (@KGisWriting) September 3, 2020
Unfortunately, some of the pieces she wrote for Essence can still be found online.
'Hood' huh?
Many people online have shared her old author biographies to note how long she has been conning people and institutions into thinking she is some kind of person of color.
jessica krug's old author bio is, uh, something else pic.twitter.com/YMKW8eHiI0
— graham starr (@GrahamStarr) September 3, 2020
There was lots of ethnic inconsistency
One of the threads tying her lies together is her propensity for changing her identity when it suited her. Through points of her life she calls herself Puerto Rican while at other times she co-opts other nationalities. She even started her book referencing "my barrio" and her "ancestors" in Angola and Brazil.
from the intro of her book https://t.co/K5TLbgdQD7
pic.twitter.com/Oi3Ef8hJGI— Jedidiah Carlson (@JedMSP) September 3, 2020
Those she duped into sharing their platforms had to apologize
Some news outlets have even had to apologize for publishing her work under the guise that she had some kind of Afro-Caribbean heritage.
Keeping Black spaces safe is our highest priority and we failed this time, but we will do better. Jessica Krug's words have been removed from our platform and we welcome any other suggestions for better vetting and elevating writers committed to the liberation of Black people. pic.twitter.com/jicCVCb24O
— RaceBaitr (@RaceBaitr) September 3, 2020
Some social media pages that had been celebrating Krug's work also had to apologize.
Black women have longed sensed something was off
Dozens of Black women clocked Krug almost immediately but their pleas fell on deaf ears. One reporter shared an email sent out last year that appeared to be about Krug.
this was an email we got last fall (Oct '19) that it turns out to be about…that person who is trending. pic.twitter.com/jpzsQDwg83
— Lysol In E Flat (@GeeDee215) September 4, 2020
People within the New York activist community also noted that Krug's actions were always strange but that it was difficult to tell if she was or was not what she said.
Last time I saw #JessicaKrug ?
She was cursing out a white dude for celebrating the 4th of July and pissed at Puerto Ricans for not being woke enough.
So many toxic #JessicaKrug moments in the hood, in #NYC movement spaces…
— Andrew J. Padilla ???????? (@apadillafilm6) September 4, 2020
I always chalked #JessicaKrug erratic behavior & aggression to serious unresolved trauma and a guilt she carried about being a White passing Latina.
But I never knew she was bullshitting about her WHOLE ASS identity.
— Andrew J. Padilla ???????? (@apadillafilm6) September 4, 2020
And were perplexed about how she was able to connive as long as she did
Others explained how Krug was able to get away with lying for so long.
I mean, I don't feel hurt or betrayed in this moment because the truth is I always knew something was off with her, but I thought the pathologies she displayed were the product of systemic violence, and not of her twisted racial fantasies…
— Yarimar Bonilla ???????????? (@yarimarbonilla) September 3, 2020
She always dressed/acted inappropriately—she'd show up to a 10am scholars' seminar dressed for a salsa club etc—but was so over the top strident and "woker-than-though" that I felt like I was trafficking in respectability politics when I cringed at her MINSTREL SHOW.
— Yarimar Bonilla ???????????? (@yarimarbonilla) September 3, 2020
There may have been more to the timing of her confession
Professors and writers who knew her and worked with her have had to come out and apologize for promoting her work and vouching for her.
Jess Krug, professor at @GWtweets, is someone I called a friend up until this morning when she gave me a call admitting to everything written here. She didn't do it out of benevolence. She did it because she had been found out.https://t.co/kSNkVUzbtM
— Hari Ziyad (@HariZiyad) September 3, 2020
I always knew there was something off. It was in her persistent negativity and jealousy, her always needing to prove her authenticity at the expense of everything else.
— Hari Ziyad (@HariZiyad) September 3, 2020
I kept her at arm's length, but still close enough that she could harm Black people around me. I owe so many people apologies.
I apologize to all the Black people I allowed her to say and do wild shit to because they weren't from New York or from "the hood" as she claimed to be.
— Hari Ziyad (@HariZiyad) September 3, 2020
It is unclear what will happen now, but dozens of people are calling for George Washington University to remove her from her position and for her to return the money she got through fellowships and awards meant for Black people, particularly Black women.