Hospital employee is fired for calling doughnut shop worker the N word in viral video

Elise Solé
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A viral video of a now-fired Mississippi Baptist Medical Center worker yelling a racial slur at a Donut Palace employee has made many people angry on social media. (Screenshot: Twitter/Shaun King)
A viral video of a now-fired Mississippi Baptist Medical Center worker yelling a racial slur at a Donut Palace employee has made many people angry on social media. (Screenshot: Twitter/Shaun King)

A hospital employee has been fired for telling a black woman to ‘shut her f***ing mouth’ and calling her the N word.

A viral video features Kyle Thomas, a radiology tech at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, who was dressed in scrubs, screaming at Donut Palace employee Keaundrea Wardlaw Saturday in the store’s Flowood location. “I hope you don’t deal with children,” says Wardlow in the footage shared Sunday by activist Shaun King.

“Shut your f***ing mouth,” responds Thomas. “Who are you talking to?” responds Wardlaw.

After Thomas tells her to “Shut up,” Wardlaw calls him a “Son of a b****.”

Thomas then says, “You’re a ‘N****” multiple times as he leaves the shop. Wardlaw follows the radiology tech outside and to his car and manages to take a photo of its license plate.

A viral video of a hospital employee at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center using the N-word to address a Donut Palace employee has resulted in his dismissal. (Screenshot: Twitter/Shaun King)
A viral video of a hospital employee at Mississippi Baptist Medical Center using the N-word to address a Donut Palace employee has resulted in his dismissal. (Screenshot: Twitter/Shaun King)

A representative at Donut Palace tells Yahoo Lifestyle the company has no comment on the incident.

Hospital spokesperson Ayoka Pond sent the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: “We are aware of the confrontation captured on video involving one of our off-duty employees at a local doughnut 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.”

According to Heavy, before deleting his Facebook account, the 35-year-old former technician, who resides in Brandon, Miss., posted: “I am so sorry, there is nothing I can say that will change what I said. I drove back up there and tried to apologize and she had gone. I regret every word that I said there is no excuse to ever say these horrible things. 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.”

However, people on Twitter have called for the social takedown of Thomas and have demanded an explanation from the hospital.

Wardlaw, however, appears more forgiving. As reported by Jackson, Miss., news station WJTV, while the Donut Palace employee disapproved of Thomas’s language, she did not want him to be fired. In fact, Wardlaw said Thomas returned to the shop to apologize to her boss for “causing a disruption” but did not address her. If he were to apologize to her, she says, she would accept it.

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