Corcoran is dissociating itself with Roy Silber, a Trump-supporting New York agent who can been seen in a now-viral video using misogynistic language and flipping off a Biden-supporting neighbor named Alethea Shapiro, who posted about the incident, including a full reaction and response, in a Twitter thread.
In the video, which has been retweeted more than 7,000 times, Silber tells the Joe Biden supporter, who said he was legally putting up Biden for president signs, to “watch me” tear down every sign she put up. Silber then plays a recording of President Donald Trump speaking through his car stereo and gives the woman the finger, while using misogynistic language.
“We were appalled by the abhorrent behavior an independent sales agent displayed in a video that recently surfaced on social media,” a spokesperson for Corcoran told Inman in a statement. “Corcoran in no way condones his conduct, and we immediately disassociated him from our firm.”
“At Corcoran, we pride ourselves on maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and service to our clients and our communities at all times,” the spokesperson added.
Corcoran’s Facebook post announcing they were dissociating with Silber already had more than 400 comments as of Monday morning.
Silber, who has been a real estate agent in New York City for more than two decades, has since wiped his Facebook and Twitter accounts. His Instagram has been made private and there were no publicly listed phone numbers available, so he could not be immediately reached for comment.
According to his LinkedIn page, Silber was the vice president and associate broker of Citi Habitats — where he started in 1999. He joined Corcoran after it acquired Citi Habitats in early 2020.
In a statement sent to Inman after the story was originally published, Silber apologized specifically for his language.
“I am deeply sorry for the language that I used and I truly regret that I said those words in the heat of the moment,” Silber said, via email.
Silber also accused Shapiro of baiting him and called her an agitator, due to her public political stances on issues including the Black Lives Matter movement. On social media, Shapiro called it a “passive aggressive non apology.”
The viral video even caught the attention of Barbara Corcoran, who founded Corcoran and appears regularly on CNBC’s Shark Tank, but sold the company in 2001.
“This guy’s behavior is absolutely outrageous and it breaks my heart!” Corcoran posted on Twitter. “It insults each of us who believe in our most precious right to free self-expression. Hate and divisiveness must be stopped if this country is to move forward again as a united family.”
The incident comes just a few days before the 2020 presidential election and came during a weekend of disturbances that included Trump supporters blocking major highways and bridges and a caravan of Trump supporters surrounding a Biden/Harris bus in Texas, which has drawn an FBI investigation.
Roughly a dozen anti-Trump protestors were also arrested by police in New York City, according to Gothamist.