Diner launches racist tirade at Asian family in viral video
A San Francisco startup founder has gone viral after making racist comments to an Asian family in a Carmel Valley restaurant.
The man, identified by social media users as Solid8 founder Michael Lofthouse, shouted expletives at the family and told them to “go back to whatever Asian country you’re from.”
“Trump’s gonna f*** you,” he said.
The video was taken by Jordan Chan, who was dining with her family at the Bernardus Lodge and Spa’s Lucia restaurant.
“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 wrote on Instagram.
In the video, a Lucia employee told Lofthouse that he needed to leave: “You do not talk to our guests like that,” she said.
The video has gone viral on social media after Chan’s friend posted it on Twitter. It was retweeted by country music singer Kelly Clarkson, who thanked the employee “for speaking up and throwing this trash out.”
Social media users swiftly identified the diner as Lofthouse, who commented on Chan’s Instagram post and then deleted it. Some are calling for a boycott of his cloud services company, Solid8.
Lofthouse told ABC7 News in a statement that his “behavior in the video is appalling.”
“This was clearly a moment where I lost control and made incredibly hurtful and divisive comments,”
Lofthouse said. “I would like to deeply apologize to the Chan family. 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.”
Raymond Orosa, Chan’s uncle, told the news station that Lofthouse was “just saving face.”
“I think he really meant what he said and what he did,” Orosa said. “I don’t believe his words because his actions speak louder than the words he’s saying.”
Lofthouse and Solid8 did not respond to this news organization’s request for comment, and Lofthouse did not respond to ABC7’s question about his role at Solid8.
Lofthouse’s company is based in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, a British company with almost the identical name, Solid8 Consulting Ltd., has been receiving hate mail from people believing Lofthouse is the CEO of that company.
“It appears that my company, Solid8 Consulting
Ltd, is being incorrectly attacked for racism and hatred,” owner Emma Jones says in a statement on the company’s web page, adding, “We would never condone this type of behaviour.”
In her Instagram post, Chan also urged people to vote this November, connecting what happened to her and her family to a broader wave of racist and anti-Asian sentiment that has emerged amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In California alone, over 800 antiAsian American hate incidents have been reported over the past few months.