A New York attorney has been fired after a black woman accused him of pulling off her wig in a viral TikTok.
Lizzy Ashleigh filmed Anthony Orlich as she accused him of snatching the wig off her head as she walked around New York City.
'For What Reason Did You Take my Wig Off?'
In the video, Ashliegh asked him why he snatched her hair, but he never gives a response. "Sir, for what f**king reason? For what reason? For what reason did you take my wig off?," she repeatedly yelled at Orlich.
"Because what made you think that that was the good thing to do? For what? For what? Why did you do that?" she continued. In the footage, Orlich's own friends tried to encourage him to apologize for his actions but to no avail.
Ashliegh, who is a creative director, actor and singer, posted another TikTok video later in the morning explaining how her wig was secured with combs, highlighting the excessive force the man used when he ripped it off her head.
"If you pull the wig, it looks like it's going to come off, right, but it gets stuck, because it has combs in it," Ashliegh says in the video. "So he ended up pulling my hair."
Orlich Fired After Being Identified as Attorney of New York-Based Law Firm
Ashliegh's initial TikTok video racked up more than half a million views and hundreds of comments from users who identified Orlich as a litigator for Leader Berkon Colao and Silverstein LLP – a law practice based in New York.
The firm later released a statement posted Tuesday on LinkedIn announcing Orlich's termination.
"We have been made aware of a video of a non-work related incident involving one of our associates circulating on social media. We take seriously any inappropriate behavior by any employee, whether inside or outside the workplace. This associate is no longer with the Firm," the firm said in its statement.
