Alex Lombard confronts Spicer at book signing and accuses him of using racial slur when they were at prep school in Rhode Island

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man yelled at former White House press secretary Sean Spicer in a bookstore and accused him of using a racial slur when they were students at a prep school decades ago.

The Briefing review: Sean Spicer rides Trump unicorn to the rainbow's end Read more

Spicer was “taken aback” by the man’s “outrageous claim” and had no recollection of him or of being in school with him, his publicist said on Saturday.

Spicer was at a book signing in Middletown on Friday to promote his new book, which is about his time at the podium for Donald Trump.

The Briefing: Politics, the Press and the President, paints a rosy picture of Trump, describing him as “a unicorn, riding a unicorn over a rainbow” and a man to whom the regular rules of politics do not apply.

The Guardian obtained a copy prior to release.

In Rhode Island on Friday, Alex Lombard was standing behind a small group of people waiting in line to meet Spicer and get him to sign the book. Lombard called out Spicer’s name and said they went to Portsmouth Abbey school together. Spicer waved to him and said: “Hey. Yeah. How are you?”

Lombard, a Newport native who now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accused Spicer of using the N-word and trying to fight him when they were at school.

“You don’t remember that you tried to fight me?” Lombard asked. “But you called me a nigger first.”

A security guard approached Lombard and led him away.

“I was 14 then,” Lombard said. “I was a scared kid then, Sean. I’m not scared to fight you now.”

The Providence Journal reported on Saturday that Lombard said he was a member of Portsmouth Abbey’s class of 1990. It said Spicer was a member of the class of 1989. Phone and email messages left by the Associated Press for the school were not immediately returned.

A Newport Daily News video of the encounter did not show how Spicer, who was seated at a table signing books, reacted to being accused of using the racial slur. His publicist said he was shocked by the allegation.

Spicer “can’t recall any incident like this happening” and was “not sure if this was just a stunt this man was pulling”, Regnery Publishing publicist Lauren McCue said, adding that Spicer has been in the news a lot the last couple of years and it was “a very odd time” for an accusation like this to be made.

In emails to the Associated Press on Saturday night and Sunday, a lawyer for Spicer said the accusation that the former White House press secretary used a racial slur was false and defamatory.