‘Get out!’ Tech CEO booted from California restaurant for anti-Asian tirade, video shows
The CEO of a tech company shouted vulgar and racist comments at an Asian family celebrating a birthday at a California restaurant, video shows.
The man, who is white and identified by media outletsas San Francisco tech CEO Michael Lofthouse, was seen on video posted to Instagram giving the family the middle finger and saying, “Trump’s gonna f--- you. You f------ need to leave. You f------ Asian piece of s----.”
Jordan Chan posted the video on Instagram and said Lofthouse was “completely unprovoked, unwarranted and unconscionable.” Chan and her family were celebrating at Lucia, a Carmel Valley restaurant, according to ABC 7.
“We were celebrating my tita’s birthday, literally just singing Happy Birthday to her and taking pictures, when this white supremacist starts yelling disgusting racist remarks at us,” she said on Instagram.
A restaurant employee quickly told Lofthouse he was not welcome in the restaurant and that he needed to leave, the video shows.
“Get out, you are not allowed here,” the employee said in the video. “You do not talk to our guests like that. They are valued guests. Get out!”
Lofthouse told ABC 7 that his behavior “is appalling” and that he “lost control.” He is the CEO of the cloud computing firm Solid8, according to CBS SF. Multiple social media pages for Lofthouse have been removed, deleted or suspended, USA Today reported.
“I would like to deeply apologize to the Chan family,” Lofthouse told ABC 7. “I can only imagine the stress and pain they feel. I was taught to respect people of all races, and I will take the time to reflect on my actions and work to better understand the inequality that so many of those around me face every day.”
The video has been seen more than 415,000 times on Chan’s Instagram.
Asian Americans have reported surges of xenophobia and racist incidents during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the ADL, an anti-hate group.
“These incidents include being told to ‘Go back to China,’ being blamed for ‘bringing the virus’ to the United States, being referred to with racial slurs, spat on, or physically assaulted,” the group said. “Statements by public officials referring to COVID-19 as the ‘Chinese virus,’ ‘Kung Flu’ or ‘Wu Flu’ may be exacerbating the scapegoating and targeting of the AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) community.”
