Larry Elder says 'racial epithets' were yelled during egg attack, calls out liberal silence

FIRST ON FOX: California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder said "racial epithets" were yelled at him while he was being egged by a person in a gorilla mask and called out the deafening silence from liberals.

The Republican candidate told Fox News in a phone interview that the racist phrases were screamed at him during the attack, in which a White woman wearing a gorilla mask threw an egg at him.

"One person said to the effect of, ‘Larry Elder doesn’t give a blank about Black people; Larry Elder only cares about White people,’" Elder said. "I will tell you: 6.5% of the population of California is Black, but according to a [Department of Housing and Urban Development] study, 40% of the homeless population is Black."

CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM SILENT ON ‘RACIST’ ELDER EGG ATTACK

"So if ‘Larry Elder doesn’t give a blank about Black people,’ why is Larry Elder trying to solve the homeless problem which is disproportionately affecting Black people?" Elder continued.

When asked if he believed the attack was racist, Elder said he does not "know" whether the attack was racially motivated or if the person was just "mentally ill and might need treatment."

Elder also said it was "hard to say" whether the attack was politically motivated but thinks that, if he were a liberal, the left would be "screaming about systemic racism."

"I’m not somebody who pulls out the race card the way Barack Obama does, the way Al Sharpton does, the way CNN does, the way Black Lives Matter does," the Republican candidate said. "Maybe it was just an idiot. Maybe it was just a fool. Maybe it was just someone who doesn’t like Larry Elder."

"All I know is: if I were a liberal and somebody wearing a gorilla mask who was a White woman threw an egg at me, the left would be screaming about systemic racism," he continued.

Elder said that it seemed to him that the attack "must have been premeditated" and that, if he were a Democrat, the attack would be garnering much more press attention.

"There’s a double standard here. There was an article in the front page of The New York Times the other day, all negative about me, not mentioning the fact that I’m Black, not mentioning that I’d be the first Black governor of California."

"Again, I’m not somebody running because I’m Black, I’m not asking people to vote for me because I’m Black or against me because I’m Black. All I’m saying is, look at this double standard. I would be a big first if I were a Democrat, but because I’m not a Democrat, the New York Times writes a negative piece and doesn’t even mention my race."

"So you tell me what’s going on," Elder added.

Elder was touring homeless encampments in Venice Beach – a statewide problem Elder says has been exacerbated under Newsom’s leadership – when the attack happened.

According to Elder, the individual who threw the egg could have been an "outside agitator," as "homeless advocates in the neighborhood" had never seen the person before.

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"People told me, the ones I was walking around with – the homeless advocates in the neighborhood – [that] they’ve never seen that person before," Elder said. "And that person might have been an outside agitator."

"And many of the people were yelling and screaming, and yelling racial epithets," the Republican front-runner continued. "Again, the people that are living in that neighborhood told me they’ve never seen them before."

Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene.