The African-American camerawoman who had nuts thrown at her by attendees of the Republican National Convention said she was "not surprised at all" by the incident. Patricia Carroll, a camerawoman for CNN, spoke about the incident for the first time Thursday to the Maynard Institute. Carroll was targeted by two attendees on the floor of the convention, one of which said, "this is how we feed animals" as peanuts were thrown.
Carroll said that while she "hate[d] that it happened," she said similar incidents occurred regularly and decried the "global issue" of racism.
"This is Florida, and I'm from the Deep South," she said. "You come to places like this, you can count the black people on your hand. They see us doing things they don't think I should do."
The attendees were removed by security on the convention floor, but Carroll said she had not been told who they were. She added that the head of one state's delegation she couldn't remember which one told her the pair were alternate delegates.
On a conference call with reporters Thursday, Romney aide Russ Schriefer blasted the behavior of the attendees.
"We thought it absolutely deplorable. We condemn it the absolute highest way. That behavior is reprehensible," Schriefer said.
He added that the campaign and convention committee initiated "immediate and continued conversations and apologies with CNN."