NEW YORK (AP) — The verbal dispute between a white woman walking her dog and a black man bird watching in Central Park might normally have gone unnoticed in a city preoccupied by the coronavirus pandemic.

That changed when birdwatcher Christian Cooper pulled out his phone and captured Amy Cooper calling police to report she was being threatened by “an African-American man.” The widely watched video — posted on Facebook by Christian Cooper and on Twitter by his sister — sparked accusations of racism and led to Amy Cooper getting fired.

In the fallout, investment firm Franklin Templeton announced Tuesday afternoon it had fired Amy Cooper, saying, “We do not tolerate racism of any kind.” A group called Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue said it had custody of the dog for the time being.

Cooper told CNN that she wanted to “publicly apologize to everyone,” adding, “I am not a racist.”

“I think I was just scared,” she said. “When you’re alone in the Ramble, you don’t know what’s happening. It’s not excusable, it’s not defensible.”

Messages were left Tuesday with Christian Cooper and his sister.

“I videotaped it because I thought it was important to document things,” Christian Cooper told CNN. “Unfortunately we live in an era with things like Ahmaud Arbery, where black men are seen as targets. This woman thought she could exploit that to her advantage, and I wasn’t having it.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the video exemplified hatred that has “no place in our city.”

“The video out of Central Park is racism, plain and simple,” de Blasio tweeted. “She called the police BECAUSE he was a Black man. Even though she was the one breaking the rules. She decided he was the criminal and we know why.”