A Minneapolis-area couple accused of racially abusing two Somali women who were house-hunting have hit back with claims that they were themselves targeted with anti-white slurs. Brian and Jen Wagner were filmed arguing with sisters Hamdi and Sumaya in the suburb of Shakopee last month, in footage that went viral and showed Brian telling the women "nobody wants you here" and "I can smell you from here". The dispute matters because it has escalated into competing accounts of who instigated the confrontation, with real-world consequences for those involved.

Speaking to Alpha News, Brian argued that the clip shared online was a "shortened, selective" excerpt that omitted what came before, alleging the sisters had called him a "f***ing white cracker" and a "redneck" prior to recording. The couple released their own footage, filmed by a passenger, showing the women shouting at them. The Wagners say they have suffered serious fallout, with Brian losing his job and his wife's daycare business being targeted. The sisters, speaking to Kare11, maintain they had just left a home tour when the couple approached them and said they were not wanted in the area.