The wife of an Alabama lawmaker who hurled a racial slur at his colleague amid a meeting says that she worries her husband and other members of the family will be physically affected by his actions. During a recent interview with TMZ, Nancy Mahler Bryant revealed that her family was threatened and called racists in the nearly 400 calls they’ve received over the last few days. The threats, she confessed, have instilled a fear that someone will attempt to kill her partner, John “Tommy” Bryant, and subsequently come for her and other relatives as well.

As a safety measure, Councilman Bryant allegedly leaves his home donned in a bulletproof vest and has equipped Nancy with a firearm for protection.

His wife, however, prefers to remain within the quarters of her home and keep her blinds closed to prevent any one from peeping through the window in search of her husband.

The Alabama councilman faced calls of resignation after a video captured him spewing a racial slur during a council meeting on Monday night (July 19). Footage of the incident showed as he stood up, pointed at a Black councilwoman and said, “Do we have a house nigger in here? Would she please stand up?”

His demeaning comment reportedly came after the Black lawmaker asked him about his wife Nancy’s consistent use of the N-word in Facebook posts.

Councilman Bryant has stood by his comments, noting that he used the slur after he witnessed Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton refer to a Black council member the same way.

“I thought the city ought to know the type of terminology the mayor uses, and I didn’t want him to get away with it so that’s the reason I made that comment,” he explained the following night (July 20). “If I had let it go and sugar-coated it, we would not be having this conversation right now.”

He refused to apologize for “doing what is right” but admits he’s concerned about the threats coming his way.