Bernard Elam Says A McDonalds Manager Called Him The N-Word
An African-American man is suing McDonalds after he said his combo meal came with a side of racism.
Bernard Elam has filed a class action lawsuit against the fast food giant last week and store manager Richard Espizito, after the manager allegedly berated him with racial slurs after he asked him for a drink that came with his meal.
Elam said that he has been a frequent McDonald’s customer. On November 7th, he went to eat at one located in Davie, FL.
He claimed he purchased a meal which was suppose to come with a drink. However, he didn’t get the cup to fill it up at the fountain machine.
The suit says he approached the manager Espizito to politely ask for a cup to get his drink that he purchased. He said the manager refused to give him one and another black customer came up to him saying Espizito had been rude to him as well.
Elam said once the manager saw both men talking he became enraged and shouted as he paced behind the counter, “N****r I’ll kick your ass” and “N****r you don’t know me.” The manager then began to make gestures that he wanted to fight all in front of his employees, which Elam said humiliated him, threatened him and was a bad example of how to treat customers.
He called the police, and the manager later admitted in the police report that he used the N word, but was unapologetic and tried to justify his actions by accusing him of being disrespectful.
The suit blamed McDonald’s for not having a corporate policy and training in place to prevent such racism from occurring in their stores.
Elam’s class action lawsuit – on behalf of himself and anyone else racially targeted at McDonald’s – is demanding an injunction against any of their employees from continuing to act in such a racist manner, along with unspecified damages for the racism he had to endure.