On the 4th of July, a deplorable racist incident went down in a San Francisco restaurant in Carmel Valley where an Asian-American family was having a birthday party of one of their members over the holiday weekend, TOI reports.
As soon as they started singing “happy birthday”, a man seated on a table near them starting yelling racist remarks at them, and even called them “Asian piece of shit.”
The entire incident that went down was swiftly caught on camera by one of the family members named Jordan Chan, who then posted the video on his Twitter handle:-
This happened to my friend Jordan last night in Monterey, CA while celebrating her aunt’s birthday. All they were doing was singing happy birthday when this man started yelling disgusting racist remarks. These racists exist and they’re getting comfortable. Please vote! pic.twitter.com/T8RtSKDM3J
— john (@JohnRizkallah) July 5, 2020
After the video went viral, the man was later identified as Michael Lofthouse, who is the chief executive of a cloud computing company based in the city. In the video, he can also be seen and heard shouting, “Trump’s going to fuck you” and “you need to leave”.
What is also seen in the video is how the restaurant’s waitress named Gennica Cochran stood up for the family and confronted the CEO saying, “You need to leave right now, get out, you are not allowed here, get out now, you do not talk to our guests like that, that, they are valued guests, you are not allowed here ever again.”
‼️ EXCLUSIVE: Waitress who stopped Solid8 CEO Michael Lofthouse's racist rant at California restaurant speaks out. https://t.co/EBtqIen8aC
— Katie Phang (@KatiePhang) July 8, 2020
Social media soon erupted with anger at this racial attack, condemning him for his racism. After receiving the backlash, the man’s company released an official apology on their Twitter handle:-
Statement from our CEO Michael Lofthouse pic.twitter.com/n3HKO3SUAV
— Solid8 (@Solid8io) July 8, 2020
But people on the internet are not buying it. Here are a couple of reactions:-
Not so solid, sir. You are sorry you were caught. Full stop.#racismhurts#solid8racist
— Diana Anderson (@Roanokeruby) July 9, 2020
No, #MichaelLofthouse you didn’t “lose control”, you dropped the veil of who you really are. Perhaps you didn’t realize you were being recorded, and nobody else would see who you really are. pic.twitter.com/p8CNRIg3kp
— Trumpism is a deathcult (@glocker36) July 8, 2020
#MichaelLofthouse is the jackass who hurled racist slurs at an Asian family in a restaurant.
It would be a shame if you retweeted this and his company #Solid8 lost business because nobody wants to deal with a racist asshole.
So DON'T retweet this. pic.twitter.com/cwZowBzdi6
— BrooklynDad_Defiant Rep John Lewis! (@mmpadellan) July 8, 2020
This guy #Lofthouse and his company #Solid8 should be punished severly for that #racist bullshit! #RacistSolid8 #RacistLofthouse
— Mario Pawlowski 🇵🇱🇺🇸🇪🇺🌎⚽️ (@PawlowskiMario) July 9, 2020
A petition has also been launched against Lofthouse to terminate his position as the company’s CEO following his explicit verbal assault:-
This "man" spewed a racist tirade at a family for simply not being white.#Racism #MichaelLofthouse #MichealLofthouseRacist
Solid8: Termination of Michael Lofthouse's position as CEO of Solid8. – Sign the Petition! https://t.co/rAMY4QSo34 via @UKChange
— 🏳️🌈 Imogen #BlackLivesMatter (@IDangerfield) July 9, 2020
Why do you use the services of racist #MichaelLofthouse of #Solid8?
Why would you employ racists? Are you a racist organisation? What are the races of your board of directors? I note a lack of diversity at the top. I wonder if you're sincere, Salesforce. It doesn't look like it.
— Marlon McGuffin coy like a carp (@Bilbo_Bawbag) July 9, 2020
What do you think of the incident? Let us know your thoughts!