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Xi’an Famous Foods co-owner and CEO Jason Wang posted a video to Facebook that shows a customer berating two black employees of the restaurant, eventually calling them the N-word.
In the video, which takes place at the 54th Street location of the restaurant chain, the customers started yelling, saying, among other things, “If you can’t deal with the word ‘black,’ then you should look at yourself in the mirror every day.” The exchange ended with one of the customers screaming, “Fuck you, n——-.” It is not clear what prompted the customers’ behavior.
Update, 2:15 p.m.: Wang tells Eater that the customers came in shortly before closing time. “Since it was not busy that night, the cashier had already counted out the registers at that time. The two wanted to pay by cash, and the cashier asked if they can pay by card since he had already closed out, and tried to explain this to the two. The two were noticeably upset by this time and the cashier did take their payment by cash and the food was prepared normally. Nothing significant happened during the wait for the food, but after they received the food in a to-go bag, the Caucasian male started making the comments about the cashier’s ‘community,’ and that's the start of the video,” he explains.
[warning: explicit content: viewer discretion advised] These m...[warning: explicit content: viewer discretion advised] I am sorry to have to post this. I don't care if this is not the "PR" thing to do. While I'd rather be posting food related things for your enjoyment, this is beyond ridiculous and should be called out. It infuriates me and we need to acknowledge this type of thing still happens in NYC in this day and age. Take a look at these two men attacking our staff at our 54th Street location this past Sunday with hateful racial stereotypes/slurs, even going to far as screaming the n-word at them along with profanities. This is unacceptable. I personally would not have taken this as calmly as my staff did, and while there's no "Yelp" for me to give 1-stars to these two, I want to at least try to get some sense of justice by spreading awareness by highlighting how close racism still hits home. This disrespect for people got to stop, and for me, it needs to stop at our stores. If you know of these two, please inform them they are banned from our stores due to their behavior, and I encourage them to do some soul searching and make contributions to NAACP. Please share. ~Jason Wang President & CEO
Nai-post ni Xi'an Famous Foods 西安名吃 noong Miyerkules, Mayo 10, 2017
Wang took to social media to call the customers out in the hopes of identifying them, with the intention of banning them from all Xi’an locations.
“I want to at least try to get some sense of justice by spreading awareness by highlighting how close racism still hits home,” he wrote alongside the video. “While I'd rather be posting food related things for your enjoyment, this is beyond ridiculous and should be called out. It infuriates me and we need to acknowledge this type of thing still happens in NYC in this day and age.”
This video comes just weeks after another racially charged alleged incident at West Village butcher shop Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market. In that situation, white butcher Joe Ottomanelli reportedly gave Victor Sheppard, a black delivery man, a noose as a “gift.” Sheppard reported him to the police, who recently arrested Ottomanelli on hate crime charges.
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