Cinnabon worker fired after racist outburst directed at customers goes viral

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ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (AP) — A Cinnabon worker in Wisconsin has been fired after a racist outburst directed at two customers went viral, the Georgia-based cinnamon roll chain said.

Cinnabon posted a statement on social media that the worker, who it did not identify, was “immediately terminated” by the franchise owner over a “disturbing video” of the incident.

“Their actions and statements are completely unacceptable and in no way reflect the values of Cinnabon, our franchisees, or the welcoming environment we expect for every guest and team member,” the company added in a follow-up statement to The Associated Press on Sunday.

The video was posted on TikTok and showed a white, female employee cursing at and taunting the customers from behind the counter as one of them recorded the encounter. At one point she is seen on video uttering a racial slur and saying, “I am racist and I’ll say it to the whole entire world. Don’t be disrespectful.”

The employee also is also recorded giving an obscene hand gesture at customers and exchanging expletives with one of the persons at the store.

The TikTok user who posted video said the incident happened while she and her husband were taking a break from shopping Friday at a mall in Ashwaubenon, a suburb of Green Bay.

The customer said she ordered a caramel pecan cinnamon roll and had asked the worker to add more caramel as it didn't appear to have enough.

She said she began recording after the worker snapped at her and derided her hijab.

An online fundraising campaign to support the customers described them as a “black Somali Muslim couple” that's been “traumatized” by the incident.

A competing campaign to purportedly benefit the fired worker, meanwhile, has raised tens of thousands of dollars. That effort appears on the same Christian crowdfunding platform where hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised for a Minnesota woman who admitted to using a racist slur against a Black child at a playground earlier this year.