Man beaten by Thomas Bruso aka ‘Epic Beard Man’ speaks out
Michael, the man beaten down by Thomas Bruso aka “Epic Beard Man” on an AC Transit bus in Oakland, Ca. last week, recently spoke out in an interview with San Francisco’s Wild 94.9 radio station.
What’s interesting about Michael’s interview is that we get to see him in a different light. The delicate relationship between content and context is always complicated in viral videos like the AC Transit Brawl. But Michael approaches this interview in a smart way. His behavior is the polar opposite of what we saw in the AC Transit video. His demeanor is calm, collected. Some will say he’s doing this to play the victim, sway public opinion in his direction — but it’s hard to say given what little information we know about Michael. In contrast, Thomas Bruso has been more than eager to tell and retell his side of the story.
Michael starts the interview by apologizing to AC Transit for the altercation. He then admits that he was intoxicated at the time of his argument and subsequent fight with Bruso. Michael then cites that Bruso is a veteran and he would like to apologize for disrespecting him.
“I want to apologize to all the veterans,” Michael says. “It wasn’t an attack on the veterans. It was an attack on a remark that a person made.” This is also when we learn that Michael is 50 years old. He reveals this detail, then segues into saying that, despite his characterization on the Internet as a young, ‘wannabe thug,” he is knowledgeable about black history and well aware of the loaded content in Bruso’s remark: “How much you charge me for a spit shine?”
“I want to point out that I am not a thug, or a wannabe gangster, or nothing like that,” Michael says. “I’m a respectable citizen, and a law-abiding citizen.” He ends the interview by saying that he’s willing to let “bygones be bygones.”
As for an update on Bruso, The Oakland Tribune reported that following the fight he was taken to John George Psychiatric Pavilion for evaluation.
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[...] Matthew's New Post42 minutes agoMan beaten by Thomas Bruso aka 'Epic Beard Man' speaks out Matthew's New Post4 hours agoL.A. city attorney cracks down on illegal use of 'supergraphic [...]
Guess you’re eatin’ some crow now, aren’t you sonny?
The white “hero” of your previous story was slinging racist trash, the “thug” as you called him is 50 years old, and you are full of sheeyit on your juvenile face.
Where in my initial post did I call Bruso a hero? Did you even read that post? This line from it sums up my take on the issue: “In general, the argument plays out like a pissing match between two shit talkers.” Neither men are heroes. And given Michael’s post-fight interview (video above), and his admission that he was drunk, it’s even more clear now that both men were feeding off of each other’s anger in a hostile situation.
Re: Thug aka Michael… You make a valid point: I was incorrect, he’s not young.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Offbeat: The other side of the Epic Beard Man bus-fighting story [...]
I don’t think this guy is lying about his criminal history. I think Tom was confused. If you follow the news there was a man stabbing random people on Ac buses but his name was Bobby Brown and he had already been arrested. Remember that he is a vet and must have had some trauma, he is the same man that was tasered at an A’s game, by police for being drunken and belligerent. At the same time I think he didn’t mean anything racist by his comments and it was truly a misunderstanding. I use to ride on AC transit in Oakland, and witnessed many a strange incidents and rude behavior, including a woman refusing to move to let an old lady with a walker by, causing a big fuss, yelling and screaming at the lady and calling her a bitch. She should’ve gotten handled until she needed the amberlamps.
It sounds like AC Transit is always a bizarre, perhaps dangerous, ride. Given that we don’t know a great deal about either of these men’s lives, it would be fair to give each the benefit of the doubt. In the initial video, both men appeared to have extremely short tempers, which did nothing to help diffuse the situation. Thanks for your comments Rheanna.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] infused with an instant, albeit fractured, narrative. But to look at the exchange between Bruso and Michael, his opponent in the video, as nothing more than a viral sensation would be a limited [...]
Oh so the fuck what. Michael can never win in this one because Thomas clearly explained that he thought he had heard Michael offer this, and he started out with the question “How much are you charging?” without giving any context at all, so he obviously COULDN’T have been purposely starting it. Michael was just being a dumb black human, whether he is a “gangsta” or not, he clearly is not a normal, decent human being since he can’t form a proper sentence to explain how he isn’t a “gangsta”. And also because he said both “I’m pressing charges” and “I’m going to beat his ass,” when clearly neither one is possible and one of them yet again exemplifies his LACK of being decent, normal, or capable of sentences… not that Tom is either, however, he doesn’t show this in the bus video.