A Florida fair worker who was filmed hurling racial slurs at a black man and his wife has been fired. The man went on the loud racial tirade while there were children on the ride he was operating.
According to NBC News, the incident occurred at the Lee County Fair in southwestern Florida and was captured and shared on Facebook by a witness identified as Trevor Reiland.
“Can’t even enjoy the fair these days,” Reiland captioned. “Guy drags the operator off the ride, after being called the N word.”
Disclosing he wasn’t aware how the fight started, he, however, alleged the white man provoked the black man after calling him the N-word about four times. An altercation ensued which led to children on the train crying and parents confused.
WBBH quoted Reiland to have said the fair worker called the African American man’s wife a “b*tch,” .
During the altercation that ensued afterwards, the black man, in the video, can be heard telling the fair worker to come talk to him.
The worker, who calls him a “stupid m*therf*cker” and a “stupid n*gger b*tch” is almost yanked off the barricade by the black man. The kids and parents on the ride can be seen frantically disembarking the train.
“For the kids, we had to explain you know what happened, ’cause they asked what that word was,” Reiland told WBBH. “So it was pretty upsetting.”
In the aftermath of the incident, the fair worker’s employers, Reithoffer Shows, released a statement condemning it. They also confirmed the fair worker in question has been fired.
“Regardless of the provocation, there is no excuse or tolerance for discriminatory or offensive actions directed to a patron, guest or anybody else for that matter,” the statement read.
“It does not make any difference whose fault it was, the conduct of our representative was inexcusable and our entire family and management team extends our apologies.”
