Actress Pam Grier used a daytime talk show appearance on MLK Day to unveil a harrowing childhood story she says she has carried for decades, telling the hosts of “The View” that she once saw a lynched body hanging from a tree in Columbus, Ohio.
The revelation came years after Grier, 76, published her 2010 memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts,” which included graphic stories about sex, drugs, and her relationship with comedian Richard Pryor, but no mention of witnessing a lynching.
That omission stands out. The word “lynching” appears just once in the book, while “sex” is used 30 times and “cocaine” 16 times. The word “racism” shows up twice.
The lynching story surfaced publicly for the first time on live television, months after Grier made headlines for saying she was in a “cosmic relationship.”
During the broadcast, Grier told Whoopi Goldberg, Sunny Hostin and the rest of the panel that her mother tried to shield her from the scene as a child.
“My mom would go, ‘don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,’ and she would pull us away because there’s someone hanging from a tree,” Grier said. “And they have a memorial for it now where you can see where people were and left. And it triggers me today to see that a voice can be silenced and if a white family supported a black, they’re going to get burned down or killed or lynched as well.”
But historical records raise questions about the account. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, there has not been a single documented lynching in the history of Columbus, Ohio.
WATCH:
Pam Grier recalls her mom trying to protect her from seeing lynched bodies hanging to trees in Columbus, Ohio. She noted that white families would also be lynched for supporting black families:
“My mom would go, ‘don’t look, don’t look, don’t look,’ and she would pull us away… pic.twitter.com/UG6AaZfy1q
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 19, 2026
America’s Black Holocaust Museum lists the last documented lynching in the state of Ohio as occurring in 1911, more than three decades before Grier was born. No host on “The View” questioned Grier’s claims in any way.
