At first I was convinced this was something published by the Onion or maybe the Babylon Bee but multiple outlets are reporting it, so apparently this really happened. Robert Lee Noye was arrested after (allegedly) kidnapping a woman and forcing her to watch the 9-hour long mini-series “Roots.” His goal was to make her more aware of her own racism, though the NY Post reports the victim’s race is not clear at this point:

Noye is accused of abducting an unnamed woman of unspecified race, then holding her captive at a residence in the 700 block of Second Avenue SW, where she was forced to watch the nine-hour ABC miniseries “so she could better understand her racism,” according to a criminal complaint.

When his captive tried to move, Noye ordered her to “remain seated and watch the movie with him or he would kill her and spread her body parts across Interstate 380 on the way to Chicago,” per the complaint.

NBC News has more on how the police became involved:

On Monday, Cedar Rapids police were dispatched to an area in the city for an open-line 911 call “with lots of screaming,” police said in a statement.

Dispatchers and officers were able to locate the home where the call was coming from by using GPS.

When they arrived at the home, an intoxicated male, later identified as Noye, answered the door, police said.

A 37-year-old woman and 12-year-old daughter, who were both upset and crying, were found inside the house, police said.

The Grio has a story up about the arrest which opens with this amusing lede: “A Black man in Michigan has been arrested after he took Black History Month a bit too seriously this year and used the movie ‘Roots’ to teach a lesson.”

Yes, he graduated from social justice warrior to social justice kidnapper.

By the way, the Grio and this WUSA report describes Noye as a man from Michigan but the Post and NBC say this happened in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. If it turns out the whole thing was someone’s idea of a joke I won’t be shocked but, again, multiple outlets seem to agree it really happened and that Noye is now facing charges of false imprisonment and harassment. Oh what a world.