Georgetown prof starts running after realizing he's talking to James O'Keefe — and his racial 'slurs' are on camera

Jonathan Franklin, a former race and identity correspondent for National Public Radio who now apparently serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, recently went into panic-mode after realizing he had made a series of damning remarks to investigative journalist James O'Keefe on hidden camera.

In the footage published on Wednesday by the O'Keefe Media Group, Franklin — whose personal website is now password-protected, Instagram profile has been set to private, and page on the Georgetown University was largely scrubbed — appears to call various black conservatives a "coon," including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Candace Owens, and U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Herschel Walker.

'Well, the thing is that I actually am James O'Keefe.'

When pressed by O'Keefe on why he hasn't shared such views publicly, Franklin, who is set to teach a journalism course on sourcing and interviews, appears to say, "I'd have to stop being a journalist for me to say what I really want to say."

At one point in his conversation with O'Keefe — whom he evidently did not recognize on account of a pair of glasses — Franklin appears to say, "I work with a bunch of stupid white people."

Franklin declined to comment on the situation involving the video published by O'Keefe, a representative told Blaze News.

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Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Georgetown University did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

After hearing enough racially charged rhetoric, O'Keefe asks Franklin in the video what he thinks about James O'Keefe.

Franklin answers, "I've heard from people he's an a**h**e."

"Well, he does, like, the undercover stuff and, like, exposes people, you know?" says O'Keefe. "He exposes people, you know, telling people, like, what they really think."

"There's a way to do that sort of watchdog, gotcha, ambush journalism but doing in a way that doesn't disrespect the person that you're trying to catch or yourself as a reporter," says Franklin.

O'Keefe then takes off his glasses, points to the hidden camera, and announces to Franklin, "Well, the thing is that I actually am James O'Keefe."

"No, you're not," responds Franklin.

Upon realizing the man he'd been talking to is in fact James O'Keefe, Franklin gets up and begins to run away. Outside the building, Franklin can be seen falling to the ground. After asking whether the adjunct was all right, O'Keefe tries asking him clarifying questions about his apparent "coon" comments, to which Franklin responds, "I will sue."

O'Keefe and his team subsequently took Franklin to a pharmacy to get him Band-Aids for the cuts he sustained in his tumble. After cooling off, Franklin appeared to confirm to O'Keefe on camera that while he did work for NPR, he had lied during their earlier conversation about working for CBS News.

When later discussing the encounter, O'Keefe questioned whether an individual who allegedly harbors racist views and would share them with a stranger should be teaching journalism classes at an institution like Georgetown University.

"That type of racism is not just his personal opinion," said O'Keefe. "It is a bias about a group of people that directly affects fairness, credibility and judgment. Why? Because he's a professor who is using these slurs. He is revealing a framework that shapes how he interprets information."

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