After Sean Spicer Dustup, Reporter April Ryan Gets Back to Work: 'I Have a Job to Do'

White House Press Corps React to Sean Spicer: Video

High-profile supporters like Hillary Clinton, Ava DuVernay and NAACP president Cornell Brooks are rallying around veteran White House correspondent April Ryan after she was scolded by Press Secretary Sean Spicer during a briefing Tuesday.

Speaking at a diversity conference organized by the Professional BusinessWomen of California on Tuesday, Clinton criticized Spicer for “patronizing” Ryan, the Washington Bureau Chief for American Urban Radio Networks.

“April Ryan, a respected journalist with unrivaled integrity, was doing her job just this afternoon in the White House pressroom when she was patronized and cut off trying to ask a question,” said the former secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.

“Preach @HillaryClinton!!!” Ryan tweeted in response to Clinton’s comments.

Ryan tells PEOPLE she had no heads-up that Clinton was going to speak about the incident. “I got home around 8 o’clock last night and was like, This was a hard day!’ I was on the phone with a friend from the National Association of Black Journalists and he told me Hillary talked about me. I said, What?!’ I was in shock. For her to come out and say that, I was like, Wow. Thank you.’ ”

Ryan, who spoke to PEOPLE Wednesday morning as she drove to the White House for another day’s work, says Clinton is far from the only person who’s reached out to her in the aftermath of Tuesday’s press briefing.

She has also heard from entertainers, “everyday people,” former Cabinet officials and White House press secretaries who worked with her during past Republican and Democrat administrations.

“I had entertainers reach out - Eric Benet DM’d me on Twitter - and I heard from civil rights leaders, everyday people,” she says. “A very high-ranking official in a former administration sent me an email saying, People love and respect you.’ ”

“It feels good to know that people know your heart and know who you are,” Ryan adds.

Cornell Brooks, NAACP president and CEO, also came to Ryan’s defense on Twitter, calling Spicer’s disrespect of her “sickening.”

Many on Twitter showed their support under the hashtag #BlackWomenatWork:

Even conservative talk-show host Joe Scarborough stood up for Ryan on Wednesday’s broadcast of Morning Joe on MSNBC.

“The thing is, you just don’t have to be abusive,” Scarborough said of Spicer. “And in that situation ... I’ve never heard anybody be as condescending in that position and abusive for accusing somebody of doing something they weren’t even doing.”

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Spicer’s criticism of Ryan came after she asked him how the Trump administration planned to “revamp its image” amid several controversies, including President Trump’s ties to Russia.

Pressed on the question by Ryan, Spicer snapped, “At some point, report the facts. The facts are that every single person who has been briefed on this subject has come away with the same conclusion - Republican, Democrat. So I’m sorry that that disgusts you. You’re shaking your head.”

As the tense exchange continued, Spicer repeated, “Please stop shaking your head again.”

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Ryan later told PEOPLE that she wasn’t even shaking her head. “I dropped my head. I was listening to him and thinking of my follow-up question,” she said, adding that she felt like she was “in combat.”

Despite this, Ryan says she’s not suiting up for battle. “There’s no girding up. I have a job to do. I do it. This is not about personal attacks. It’s about the American people getting information about the White House through us, the press. When you start playing childish games, you don’t get the information you need.”

“I’m going back in today, and I’m going to raise my hand again, and I’m going to ask a question, and I’m going to hope for an answer,” she says. “I’m not in a fight. I’m doing my job.”

This article was originally published on PEOPLE.com