‘Never argue with a fool’: Bakari Sellers hits back at Laura Ingraham over claim he changed his accent while talking about Andrew Brown Jr

Attorney and former congressman Bakari Sellers has hit back at Fox News host Laura Ingraham for claiming that he was “sporting an accent” she had “never heard before” during a press conference about Andrew Brown Jr, 42, who was fatally shot by police last week.

Mr Sellers is currently assisting the family of Mr Brown Jr, a Black man who was killed in his car last week as police served an arrest warrant in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Witnesses have claimed that Mr Brown Jr was shot as he drove away from the authorities, while his family, who saw a 20-second clip of the incident, said that seven or eight officers, including some armed with assault rifles, fired a hail of bullets at him as he complied with their demands.

During a press conference on Monday, Mr Sellers criticised Pasquotank County Attorney Michael Cox for refusing to release the full bodycam footage of the fatal shooting, claiming he disrespected Mr Brown Jr’s family and his attorneys.

“I’ve never been talked to like I was talked to in there,” Mr Sellers told reporters. “Mr Cox told me, a grown Black man, that he was ‘not f***ing going to be bullied,’” he added.

Speaking on Fox News later in the day, Ingraham criticised Mr Sellers for those remarks and focused on how he sounded during the press conference.

“Bakari Sellers suddenly showed up in North Carolina today to condemn the police in another case,” Ingraham said about Mr Sellers assisting the family, adding that he was “pouring on the dramatic affect, as if you needed it.”

Ingraham then switched her focus to the former South Carolina representative’s voice, saying: “And sporting an accent that - maybe I’ve missed something, but I never heard him use on TV before.”

The host was criticised by many for her remarks, including by CNN host Jake Tapper, who defended Mr Sellers, tweeting: “Sounded to me exactly like every single time I’ve heard @Bakari_Sellers speak in person and on air for years. No change.

“Including the very first time we spoke, after I asked Twitter for help finding a lawyer in South Carolina to help a veteran in distress.”

At a press conference on Tuesday morning alongside the attorney for George Floyd’s family, Ben Crump, Mr Sellers responded to Ingraham’s comments about his voice.

“I know that people said I switched accents,” Mr Sellers said as Mr Crump audibly laughed behind him.

“But my daddy would always say – never argue with a fool because you don’t know who’s watching, and they can’t tell the difference,” he added, as the crowd that had gathered laughed at his reply.

The quote is attributed to the American writer Mark Twain.

During the press conference on Tuesday morning, Mr Crump, who is also working with Mr Sellers to represent Mr Brown Jr’s family, summarised the autopsy report and said that the 42-year-old died of a gunshot to the back of his head.

“Now you all know from the death certificate that it was a penetrating gunshot wound to the head,” Mr Crump began. “But ... what they did not know was it was a kill shot to the back of the head.”

Attorneys for the family are appearing in court on Wednesday in an attempt to get the bodycam footage of Mr Brown Jr’s death released, while protesters demonstrated in the city on Monday and were expected to do the same on Tuesday night.