New video shows a woman casting racial slur and swearing at a black New York City bakery worker who allegedly said she couldn’t be served if she wasn’t wearing a mask.
The woman, who was not identified, was trying to place an order for Davidovich Bakery inside the Essex Market restaurant on the Lower East Side, according to NBC New York, which reported the incident on Sunday. She was pushing a child in a stroller and appeared to have other children with her.
A bakery worker behind the counter told the woman first that she would not be served unless she put on a mask, the video showed. When she did not obey, a security guard intervened with a similar warning.
“Why? Because he’s a b —- a– n —-, is that why?” Said the woman, according to the footage.
“That’s what he is,” she replied after audible reactions from shocked customers around her.
Cashier Black was behind the box, looking away from the woman.
The security guard told the woman to leave, and the customers around him challenged his language.
“That’s what he is,” the woman continued. “I just said that. You heard. “
“I can call it what I want,” she said, adding that her rights were being violated and saying to a person, “You think you’re tough with your mask on.”
It is not clear what happened before or after the recording, but the woman ended up leaving.
The New York City Police Department said it had made a report of the incident, NBC New York reported.
Jack Weil, who filmed the incident, was affected.
“At first I was like, he’s a crazy person, I’m going to film them,” Weil told NBC New York. “But then, when she started saying the word with N in front of her kids, I thought, this is dark. This is really disturbing … the whole crowd was starting to yell at her.”
Davidovich Bakery vice president Marc Fintz said the company was proud of how the employee went through a “very sad situation”.
“We are a family business and all of our employees, regardless of whether they have been with us for a day or years, when you attack a member of our family, you attack our entire family. Retail workers are all on the front lines during the pandemic. They try to put a smile on their face. Nothing justifies someone being attacked, insulted and treated the way they were treated, “he said in a note to NBC in New York.
“We do not give mask orders, we follow the law,” the statement continued. “The law says that we have to follow the rules and we hope that our customers understand that they are free to attend other businesses if they don’t like it. No one should be subjected to such racial and harassment slanders. across the country to praise you for handling it with dignity and grace. “
