The shocking picture started showing up on social media last October.
Its goal was to attack and intimidate NewsChannel 5’s chief investigative reporter, Phil Williams.
“Someone texted me and said, ‘Have you seen this stuff they are putting out about you?'” Williams remembered.
It was an image of Williams in blackface.
“The image this person used of me in blackface was created by one of the white supremacists we had been investigating,” Williams said.
It was posted as Williams covered the controversial campaign of Gabrielle Hanson, who was running for mayor of Franklin.
When she showed up at a candidates forum, Phil revealed she was being escorted by white supremacists – including a man who described himself as an “actual literal Nazi.”
Williams attempted to ask Hanson about the people escorting her, “Ms. Hanson, the people you are with have described themselves as literal Nazis. Is this the type of people you should be associating with? They have said they are literal Nazis.”
Hanson did not respond.