Mississippi viral video sparks backlash for WI auto dealership

A local connection to viral national story is drawing outrage. A racist incident captured on video at the University of Mississippi is now bringing scrutiny home to Kunis Auto Group. Our Bria Jones is in the newsroom with what we're learning and how that video is reopening some wounds for customers in our area. Give us the connection here, Bria. That's right. I had two confirmed sources who are current employees at Kunis Auto Group. They are connecting the dots tonight. They both say one of the students in that video was the daughter of a top executive. The video shows two students acting out monkey gestures and noises outside the apartment of a black student. A viral video showing racist gestures at Ole Miss sparking nationwide outrage, signaling trouble for Cunis Auto Group, a Wisconsin dealership that has a storied past with discrimination against black customers. What did it make you relive? Relive the prejudice, the prejudice, the racism, how the country hasn't grown from. All the way back in the 60s and 50s, it really is 2024. And the country really hasn't grown in that aspect. 61-year-old Carolyn Word has bought four cars from Kunis Auto Group. She shared these text messages from last March of a sales representative from the Elkhorn location sending her memes of a bear and an ape in a skirt. He said, ha ha, I thought I was going to have my first time selling a car to a... A bear. So it was pretty humiliating. I felt it felt like a blast from the past for me, you know, growing up in Mississippi. Never thought this would happen. I was just humiliated. The viral Ole Miss video reopening wounds as Fox 6 has learned one of the students is the daughter of the Kunis Auto Group executive. Who is this information coming from? Yeah, this is coming from a current employee who has worked at Kunis for years. Who knows the family very well? Who knows this young person in particular? William Sultan is Word's attorney. He also represents the woman Fox six previously profiled in 2024 that received the N word on her oil change sticker. I think people are right to draw this connection, right? This is racist behavior. This isn't just a family issue because of the nature of the misconduct here, but they should come out and do the right thing and say hey. My daughter made a mistake. We don't believe in this, and we're going to do something about it. In a statement, Cunis Auto Group says in part, the individual in the video has no employment, ownership, or professional affiliation with Cunis Auto Group. We do not comment on private citizens unaffiliated with the company. My thought is that's untrue, because if that was true, those incidents wouldn't happen. In a message to students and staff, the University of Mississippi says in part the behavior depicted in the video is deeply troubling, hurtful and unacceptable. We condemn the behavior as it does not reflect our university's values or the kind of community we strive to be every day. We also didn't reach out to the Cunis family by phone, but no one answered. Ted, Mary. Bria, we have looked into the comments coming from Ole Miss, and they are saying that, yes, they take this very seriously. However, we have not heard what that disciplinary action could be. If it's, for example, an expulsion or something like that, have you heard what the actual action item will be to discipline those students? Well, Mary, Ole Miss, according to their statement that they released to the media, and then the letter that I just read that they sent out to staff and students, they say that they will not be releasing any sort of disciplinary action If any is taken. It's interesting, Cunis says we have no professional connection to this person. They didn't deny any personal connection, did they? They did not, Ted. And we had this conversation kind of earlier, if I could shed a little light. I actually reached out to Cunis yesterday. I got a call back today thinking that they thought that I wanted to buy a car. I identified myself as a member of Fox 6 with the media, and I said, no, I did not want to buy a car, but I wanted to learn more about this information. An employee there said they condemned what happened, but they did confirm to me that one of the students in the video is indeed the daughter of a top executive with the auto group. Gotcha. Bria Jones in the newsroom. Thank you.