A viral video of a North Texas teenager surprising her boyfriend with a car for Christmas has prompted a wave of racist comments, tainting the heartfelt gesture with hate.
"Many people were saying I was destroying my lineage," said Madison Duke, who is white. "Every racist comment you could think of, it was there."
The 16-year-old has been dating Christian Hunter, 17, for 11 months. Hunter is black.
Duke said her parents wanted to gift Hunter a car because he's a "genuine and caring person." She said her parents raised money over the course of six weeks to buy a 2005 Scion.
On the day Hunter was to receive his present, Duke's parents told him they were going out for lunch but needed to make a quick stop first.
A video of the big reveal posted on social media showed Hunter arriving at a garage with Duke's parents, speechless at the site of the car with a big red bow on the hood.
"Merry Christmas," Duke's stepfather says in the video.
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The video, which has been viewed 1.5 million times as of Tuesday night, was posted online Saturday. The couple said the initial wave of positive response was followed by hundreds of hateful comments.
"We were shocked," Duke said.
The comments have since been disabled on the couple's YouTube page. The teens say they're determined to not let hate ruin their happiness.
"Don't judge a book by its cover. People that made all the racists comments about me, they know anything about me. I know I'm an intelligent person. I know I'm very humble. They don't know anything about me," Hunter said.
