New York Daily News

iJódete, idiota!

New York’s message to bigot who yelled at women for speaking Spanish in restaurant:

- BY LAURA DIMON, EDGAR SANDOVAL and LARRY McSHANE

(For all those English-only fanatics, that’s ‘Screw you, idiot’)

Lawyer Aaron Schlossber­g during his rant against people speaking Spanish at a Midtown restaurant, as he threatened to call ICE on them. Ugly scene was captured on video.

A FEW WORDS of Spanish unleashed a torrent of hate speech from a racist, ranting Manhattan lawyer.

The Madison Ave. meltdown by attorney Aaron Schlossber­g included a threat to sic federal immigratio­n officials on workers at a Midtown restaurant — because they failed to speak English in his presence.

“He heard us speak Spanish and started yelling, ‘You motherf---ers!’ ” recounted Oscar Villanueva, a Honduran immigrant and employee of Fresh Kitchen.

“He said we have to speak English,” continued Villanueva. “He started saying a lot of ugly words . . . . We felt really bad, humiliated.”

A viral video of the Tuesday lunchtime explosion captured the xenophobic Schlossber­g announcing the employees were in “my country” before invoking the threat of deportatio­n.

“My guess is they’re not documented,” Schlossber­g announced loudly about the staff. “So my next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country. If they have the balls to come here and live off my money — I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here — the least they can do is speak English.”

Schlossber­g, 42, is a registered Republican and 2016 donor of $500 to President Trump’s campaign. His company bio claims he is fluent in Spanish and conversati­onal in French. The bullying barrister’s identity was exposed and his reputation trashed less than 24 hours after his nativistic natterings. He disappeare­d Wednesday without comment on the mess, although internet trolls unloaded on Schlossber­g as his offensive opinions ripped through cyberspace. Hundreds of posters from across the U.S. whacked his law firm with one-star reviews or posted insulting photos. “Your (sic) a disgusting piece of s--t, hopefully your law firm closes. You deserve to be jobless. America doesnt have room for ignorant racist f---s like u, especially in a court

room. Go to hell, i wish you and your firm the worst luck !!!!! ” read one post on Yelp.

Former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito tweeted in Spanish that the video “demonstrat­es how ignorant you are and makes clear you support the politics of Trump to destroy our families.”

A Change.org petition demanding his disbarment had 2,100 signatures Wednesday night, while another online petition calling for discipline from the state bar associatio­n collected about 1,600 signatures.

Another video that emerged online apparently shows a cursing Schlossber­g standing with Trump supporters last year at a rally protesting a Palestinia­n speaker in Manhattan.

Customer Deena Suazo, 34, a local medical receptioni­st, said she had just ordered her lunch in Spanish when Schlossber­g exploded.

She watched in disbelief as he screamed at a counter worker to “give me my f---ing sandwich!” Suazo, who has Puerto Rican roots, was rocked by the hate-fueled outburst.

“It’s disgusting to me, in this day and age, that people think it’s OK to walk around and be disrespect­ful and racist,” she said. “The United States is made of all cultures and ethnicitie­s.”

Schlossber­g further demeaned the employees by announcing he was more educated than any of them.

The videotaped portion of Schlossber­g’s volcanic tirade began with the lawyer lecturing the store manager about bilingual workers speaking in Spanish.

“Your staff is speaking Spanish to customers when they should be speaking English,” he barks. “This is America. Your staff should be speaking English, OK?”

The fuming man then informed the manager that he planned to follow up by contacting U.S. Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t for a possible raid on the restaurant.

The manager told the Daily News that Schlossber­g, clutching a cell phone, lost his mind after Suazo and the store worker chatted in Spanish.

“It’s no big deal,” agreed Suazo, a regular at the restaurant. “I speak Spanish and English. And I just might feel more comfortabl­e ordering in Spanish.”

The manager said he was infuriated by the customer’s remarks but refused to respond in a similar fashion.

“He’s a customer, so I had to stay profession­al and ask him to leave,” the manager said. “That’s what I did.”

The front desk at Schlossber­g’s Madison Ave. office building shooed away all visitors at his request, and the phones in the office were turned off.

A person answering the phone at his Manhattan residence hung up without a word Wednesday.

An online fund-raiser, launched by a man named Mark Goldberg, collected nearly $800 to rent a mariachi band Thursday to play “La Cucaracha” “to cheer up the staff and attorneys at The Law Office of Aaron M. Schlossber­g Esq. . . . after a difficult day.”

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 ??  ?? Aaron Schlossber­g blows his top at the manager of Fresh Kitchen (inset below) in Midtown after employees and a customer were speaking Spanish. Worker Oscar Villanueva (facing page, bottom) said outburst made him feel “really bad.”
Aaron Schlossber­g blows his top at the manager of Fresh Kitchen (inset below) in Midtown after employees and a customer were speaking Spanish. Worker Oscar Villanueva (facing page, bottom) said outburst made him feel “really bad.”

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