A California bride-to-be whose marriage proposal was ruined by a woman’s racist outburst in Laguna Beach was gifted a wedding dress from a bridal store owner who heard about her harrowing ordeal.
Hayley Lugo received the dress from the owner of the Saint Clark Bridal Suite in Monrovia, after the proposal was hijacked by a woman who told Lugo and her boyfriend to “go back to Mexico” as a mariachi band played at their engagement.
“We live in a world [where] people can be pretty hateful,” owner Lisa Clark told CBS News. “So I wanted to make sure that she understood that the world is not full of hate and there is still kindness, and if this is something I could do for her, I wanted to do it.”
Lugo said she felt grateful for the free dress after the traumatic experience that was caught on camera.
“Very blessed to be receiving the gown and that there’s so many kind people out there who are still willing to help us despite what happened,” she said.
She appeared to pick out a strapless white dress adorned with pearls around the blouse.
The silver lining comes after the couple was approached by a woman walking a dog at Crescent Bay Point Park in Laguna Beach.
As an arranged mariachi band began playing, the unidentified tormentor told Lugo and her fiance Emmanuel Banuelos’ to “Go back to Mexico.”
“It hurts a lot because it’s not just us there,” Lugo told ABC 7. “She’s being mean to the whole Mexican culture, the whole Hispanic culture, like everyone’s felt it.”
Banuelos said Lugo had “fallen in love” with mariachi music and he “really wanted” her to hear it during the proposal.
The couple said the woman approached them before unleashing her verbal assault on video.
Haley’s sister and the engagement’s videographer, Trinity Lugo, said the woman set upon them and the camera set up to film the engagements.
“The park is for people who live here and enjoy the park and have picnics,” the woman says in the video.
As the couple arrived and the mariachi music played, she began escalating her verbal tirade.
“Bulls–t. It’s f–king Mexican. This isn’t Mexico either, you motherf–ers,” the woman is heard saying. As she walks past the couple, she yells: “Go back to Mexico.”
“I could not believe that I was being told those words,” Trinity recalled. “At first I thought, you know, she was just a normal Karen.”
Laguna Beach city officials said they would not comment on private individuals but condemned the woman’s actions.
“The City of Laguna Beach is aware of the video from Crescent Bay Point Park on October 2. Laguna Beach has long been a place of acceptance and inclusion,” read a statement.
“We reject hateful language and behavior of any kind as it does not reflect our community’s values.”
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