Poet Amanda Gorman Says She Was Profiled by Security Outside Her Apartment

"This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat," the 22-year-old poet wrote on social media

Published March 5, 2021 • Updated on March 5, 2021 at 10:20 pm

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. — Alex Wong | Getty Images

Poet Amanda Gorman said she was racially profiled outside her apartment when a security guard tailed her on her walk home, NBC News reports.

Though she did not disclose where the incident happened in her post to her social media Friday night, Gorman's Twitter profile lists her location as Los Angeles.

>📺 Los Angeles news 24/7: Watch NBC4 free wherever you are

"He demanded if I lived there because 'you look suspicious.' I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building," she wrote. "He left, no apology. This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat."

The 22-year-old posted the experience on Twitter as a response to a tweet from February highlighting a Washington Post profile about her meteoric rise and the disparity between herself and "everyday Black girls."