The person who taped himself harassing a Chick-fil-A employee on Aug. 1 has been fired by his employer.
“Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A,” reads a Aug. 2 company statement.
“Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company,” the release from Vante, a biotech company based in Tucson, Ariz., continues.
Smith videotaped himself harassing the employee, who replied gracefully to his jibes about Chick-fil-A’s corporate support for popular conservative groups.
The “anti-gay breakfast sandwich always tastes better because it is full of hate,” Smith charged as he waited in his car to be served.
“Chick-fil-A is a hateful corporation. … The corporation gives money to hate-groups,” he told the employee.
He posted the video, prompting push-back from many viewers.
For more than two weeks, Chick-fil-A has been assailed by progressives because of its CEO’s support for traditional marriage and for conservative groups.
The backlash against Chick-fil-A included controversial statements from the mayors of Chicago, Boston, Oakland, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, and from the chairwoman of the New York City Council. They announced their opposition to the operation of Chick-fil-A restaurants in those cities, though the mayor of Boston later retracted that statement.
“The actions of Mr. Smith do not reflect our corporate values in any manner,” his former employer’s statement said.
“Vante is an equal opportunity company with a diverse workforce … [and] we also expect our company officers to behave in a manner commensurate with their position and in a respectful fashion that conveys these values of civility with others,” it continued.
“We hope that the general population does not hold Mr. Smith’s actions against Vante and its employees.”
WATCH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPLNgkP9nzc