Tune in here to this ​Tuesday edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!

 Less than a week following Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden’s apology video on leaked audio that captures him using two racial slurs, he sat down for his first interview with WBT’s Brett Jensen, who first reported on the audio in 2022.

The video interview was roughly 40 minutes long and covered a wide range of topics, most of which centered around the controversies that have risen over the course of McFadden’s six years in office.

The interview was extensive and intensive, and included such topics as the audio, racism, jail deaths, workplace environment, the closed juvenile detention center, as well as what the N.C. Sheriff’s Association had to say during his meeting with the board last week.

“Well, the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association did put out a hard statement, and I expected them to put out a hard statement” McFadden said. “Last Thursday, I met with a panel of 12 in a room, and I can tell you we had about an hour discussion."… “

For the next hour, I spoke my heart. And I spoke to every sheriff in there – some individually. Some asked me a lot of questions and some sheriffs said, ‘We expected you to come in here and tell us something. But we were more interested if you were going to tell us the truth.’ …

“Thursday, they wrote a letter and as far as they’re concerned, that is it. Be careful what you say. Understand that people hold you to a higher standard. I told them I’m human. … I think that most of the sheriffs in there understood that and we had a great conversation.” 

 Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen