A worker at a Cinnabon franchise in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, was fired after she used hate speech against a Somali couple which was seen on a video that went viral on the Internet. Despite that, she’s reportedly received monetary support online.
The video begins apparently mid-conversation after the white female worker was asked if “sexualizing her body makes her a better person.” The worker, standing behind the counter, asks if she’s being recorded to which the woman responded that she was. That led the worker to ask if the couple wanted water thrown on them. After a cut in the video, the worker said, “I am racist. And you’re a n——.” The Cinnabon employee then hurls the N-word at the couple, also cursing at them and telling them to “suck it” while making obscene gestures at her crotch. She also called the customers “disrespectful.”
According to reporting from CBS News, the woman who took the video said that the incident occurred last Friday (Dec. 5) after she and her husband took a break from shopping in a mall in the Green Bay suburb. She stated that it began after she asked the employee to add more caramel to the caramel pecan cinnamon roll that she ordered, and that she began recording after the employee insulted her hijab.
The one-minute video would go viral on social media, and the outcry from many online led to Cinnabon making a statement in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We’ve seen the disturbing video from the Cinnabon bakery in Ashwaubenon, WI, and we do not condone this behavior,” they wrote. “The former employee was immediately terminated by the franchise owner. Their actions do not reflect our values or the welcoming experience every guest deserves.”
However, the unnamed worker would also receive support. According to The New York Times, a crowdfunding campaign for her on the GiveSendGo platform raised over $130,000. The creator of the campaign wrote that “No White person should lose their job for refusing to be harassed by Somalians.” Others who donated left similar sentiments along with white nationalist rhetoric.
The incident comes after President Donald Trump’s singling out of the Somali community in the United States in a Cabinet meeting last week. “They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country,” Trump said. It also came as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are preparing sweeps in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
