A Mississippi Baptist Medical Center employee will now be acquainted with the unemployment line after he was caught on camera hurling a racial slur at an employee at a Flowood donut shop.
Kyle Thomas worked in radiology at the hospital and was promptly fired after the video started spreading.
The hospital released a statement to WJTV noting:
We are aware of the confrontation captured on video involving one of our off duty employees at a local donut shop. We take this situation very seriously. This employee’s language and behavior does not represent our organization’s values and his employment has been terminated.
We want our patients, employees, physicians and our community to know that we find the language used in the video to be completely unacceptable and inconsistent with what we expect from employees or anyone associated with our organization. We are committed to a work environment that is inclusive and where everyone is respected and valued
This incident started on Saturday at Donut Palace in Flowood, Miss., where Keaundrea Wardlaw works. Wardlaw told the news station that Thomas became upset about her service and the situation quickly deteriorated.
“I hope you don’t deal with children,” a woman’s voice says in the recording.
Thomas turns to another person, who said something inaudible and rages, “shut your fucking mouth.”
“Who are you talking to?” the woman’s voice said. “You’re a son of a bitch...you don’t speak to me that way.”
The two exchange words until Thomas whips around and starts to leave, but before exiting the store he says, “You’re a nigger.”
“I’m a nigger. Now I’m a nigger and you’re a bitch!” the woman’s voice says.
“Say it again,” the woman presses, as Thomas repeats the slur.
Wardlaw, a kinder person perhaps than many of us, told the news site that she didn’t want Thomas to get fired, but acknowledges that he shouldn’t have used the slur. Apparently, after the recorded exchange, Thomas came back and apologized to her boss for causing disruption, although he did not apologize to her, though she said she would have accepted an apology.
According to Heavy, in a Facebook post, Thomas extended his best fauxpology saying, “I only hope that by me sharing a public apology in this incident you could show me some grace. I was upset about another issue and it spilled over into this and I can’t apologize enough.”