A disturbing video has emerged of a KFC employee hurling homophobic abuse at two people who were collecting an order for a DoorDash customer.
The footage was posted on Facebook on Thursday by user Joshua Garner. In the caption, he explains: âLee [Garnerâs fiancee] and I are out door dashing and this traumatic experience happened at KFC on 6th street Springfield Illinois. Please watch the whole thing closely. Idk what to do or who to talk to but I know people are going to be out of jobs.â
The two-minute clip was filmed from inside a car. Initially the camera is not pointed at the workers, but the audio depicts the beginnings of an argument.
In a Facebook comment, Garner explained that when they arrived at the KFC, staff said they did not have the items that had been ordered, but hadnât informed the DoorDash customer. Garnerâs fiancee called the customer, and while on the phone held up his hand to indicate he needed a moment to clarify.
At this point, the KFC worker allegedly responded by saying âdid this motherf***er really just put his hand upâ.
Garner claims that: âIt escalated from that point on and it seems like every staff member took a turn coming to the window and aggressively approaching us. The man and the girl you see in the video were one of many individuals who came to the window harassing us during which time we were still on the phone with the customer trying to resolve the issue. They were very rude and pushy asking us to leave as if we were criminals which in all reality we were just trying to complete a job.â
The video shows that when Garner says âIâm working too,â one of the KFC workers responds: âI donât give a f*** about you.â
At this point, the camera pans onto the two workers, whose face coverings are no longer in place, and Garner says: âYouâre on video. Whatâs your name?â
The KFC worker responds: âI donât give a f*** about no video. This ainât the first time Iâve been on video.â Garner can be heard trying to explain that he canât leave the spot as heâs still waiting for a DoorDash update, and the worker begins to use homophobic slurs, saying: âYou f***ing queer, why?â
The argument escalates, with Garner referring to the KFC worker as a âfat assâ. The KFC worker continues to rant: âI donât give a f*** if yâall are gay or not. This motherf***** looks queer so he can get the f*** out of here.â
When they continue to explain to the worker that his comments are on video and theyâre going to report him to the company, he begins shouting the F-word repeatedly.
You can watch the entire video here, but please note it may be upsetting to some viewers:
In the comments beneath the , people expressed horror at Garnerâs experience, with various Facebook users labelling the outburst âdisgustingâ, âsickeningâ and âtotally unacceptableâ.
Garner also explained in the comments that heâs reporting the incident to KFC, and asked people to share the video. He added: âIâm legit bawling my eyes out you guys. I feel so f***ing horrible right now,â and added: âIâm having a full blown panic attack.â
Responding to a comment saying âdonât let him do that to youâ, Garner wrote: âI know it just hurts so bad because this is stuff that people donât understand the LGBTQ community goes through everyday!â
A spokesperson for KFC told indy100: âKFCâs unwavering policy is to treat every guest and employee fairly, equally, and with respect. Discrimination of any kind is absolutely against KFCâs core values, and the behaviour displayed in this video was appalling. This employee was promptly terminated by the KFC franchisee who owns the restaurant, and additional employees have been suspended as a result of this incident, pending further investigation. We have also contacted the guest directly to apologize for this experience.â
They added that that the franchisee âhas committed to additional anti-harassment and non-discrimination training for all employees at its restaurants.â
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