New video shows a woman hurl a racial slur and expletives at a Black New York City bakery employee who reportedly told her she couldn't be served if she wasn't wearing a mask.
The woman, who has not been identified, was attempting to order from Davidovich Bakery inside the Essex Market food hall on the Lower East Side, according to NBC New York, which reported the incident took place Sunday. She was pushing a child in a stroller and appeared to have other children with her.
A bakery worker behind the counter first told the woman she would not be served if she did not put on a mask, the video showed. When she did not comply, a security guard stepped in with a similar warning.
“Why? Cause he’s a b---- a-- n----, is that why?” the woman said, according to the footage.
"That’s what he is,” she responded after audible reactions from shocked customers around her.
The Black cashier stood behind the register, looking away from the woman.
The security guard told the woman to leave, and surrounding customers challenged her language.
“That’s what he is," the woman continued. "I just said it. You heard it.”
“I can call him whatever I want," she said, adding that her rights were being violated and telling one person, “You think you’re tough with your mask on your face."
It is not clear what happened before or after the recording, but the woman eventually left.
The New York City Police Department said it took a report of the incident, NBC New York reported.
Jack Weil, who filmed the incident, was affected.
"At first I was just like, it's a crazy person, I'm gonna film them," Weil told NBC New York. "But then when she started saying the N-word in front of her kids, I was like, this is dark. This is really disturbing ... the whole crowd was starting to yell stuff at her."
Davidovich Bakery vice president Marc Fintz said that the company was proud of how the employee navigated a "very sad situation."
"We are a family-run company and all of our employees whether they have been with us for a day or years, when you attack one member of our family, you attack all of our family. The retail workers have all been on the front line during the pandemic. They try to put a smile on their face. Nothing justifies someone being attacked and insulted and treated the way he was treated," he said in a statement given to NBC New York.
"We don’t make mask mandates, we follow the law," the statement continued. "The law says we have to follow the rules and we hope our customers understand that they are free to frequent other businesses if they don’t like it. No one should be subjected to racial and harassing slurs like that. People have reached out from all over the country to commend him on handling it with dignity and grace."
