'The first thing that I experienced was just shock,' the research participant told Fox News Digital
Yale graduates stage mass walkout at commencement
Over a hundred anti-Israel protestors leave the ceremony sporting banners and flags. (Richard Harbus for Fox News Digital)
A director at Yale is in hot water after technical difficulties caused an audio recording to be accidentally leaked in which he disparaged a research participant, saying "that guy sucked" and that he exhibited "White discomfort."
Dr. Ryan McNeil, a director at Yale University Medical School's addiction wing, was interviewing a New York activist, Shawn Hill, for a government-funded study on supervised drug-injection sites. The conversation was – from Hill's perspective – cordial and uneventful.
But he is now calling them "activist researchers" and "unprofessional people" after a recording of them trash-talking about him was accidentally sent to his inbox.
"Thank you so much for taking the time to connect with us. Really appreciate it," Dr. McNeil told Hill at the end of the July 15 call, which lasted an hour. Seconds later, the gossiping began.
Yale's Dr. Ryan McNeil attacked a research participant for his "White discomfort" about homeless drug addicts.
McNeil was interviewing Hill, the co-founder of the Greater Harlem Coalition, regarding his concerns about legal drug injection sites in the Upper Manhattan area. Hill was opposed to the location of one that was adjacent to a school.
For those views, McNeil disparaged the participant for his "White discomfort" along with his colleague Gina Bonilla.
"Jesus Christ," Bonilla said. "I almost lost it. I almost flipped my laptop over."
"That guy suuuuuucked," McNeil responded. "It's interesting. The discursive framing of community as something that necessarily effectively excludes folks who use drugs, who are homeless. It's so direct and obvious. His primary concerns were basically around, frankly, White discomfort."
The duo then attacked Hill for raising "the children" as a concern around drug-using homeless people.
"He kept saying ‘The children...’ I was like, what is happening?" said Bonilla. "They just want these people (the homeless drug addicts) dead."
"That guy sucked," said Yale's Dr. Ryan McNeil about a research participant. (Fox News Digital )
"That's all they want," McNeil responded.
All the "unprofessional" chatter was sent directly to Hill's inbox courtesy of the AI transcription software the duo were using. The incident is now being investigated by Yale.
Hill told Fox News Digital he was "stunned" by their conduct.
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"The first thing that I experienced was just shock at how highly unprofessional these employees of Yale University's School of Medicine were," he said. "They have shown themselves to be activist researchers rather than scientific researchers."
Regarding their accusations that his concerns were "White discomfort," Hill said, "I think the discomfort in walking past active drug-dealing and people in the throes of addiction transcends color."
New York City opened two supervised drug injection sites in the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods in an effort to address the increase in overdose deaths. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
It was a particular remark that is now making Hill question whether the findings of the research can be trusted.
McNeil said, "Let’s try to get some more interviews of people who suck."
"I want to find someone who we can give enough rope to hang themselves with," he added.
Hill is also calling on Yale to investigate whether the duo were using "research subjects for an activist agenda rather than a scientific agenda."
Fox News Digital contacted Yale, McNeil and Bonilla for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
McNeil and Bonilla previously released a joint statement on the incident.
"The highly inappropriate and unprofessional comments we have made and the words we used have caused distress; we sincerely apologize and acknowledge that this was a serious lapse in judgment," they said.
"We are committed to rebuilding the trust our research partners have placed in us. We would also like to make clear that our comments and opinions are our own and do not represent the views of the Department of Internal Medicine or of Yale School of Medicine."
Hannah Grossman is a Reporter at Fox News Digital.
