A white couple sparked outrage on social media after being caught on camera harassing a street vendor in Santa Clarita, California, and calling the police on them because they thought it made their neighborhood look "ghetto."
The couple, identified as Renee McAlonis and Mike Foster, are owners of a popular bar known as Bergie's Bar and Grill in Santa Clarita. They were filmed attacking the fruit vendor who was stationed near their restaurant in a video shared by Christopher Alcantar on Instagram
"These are the type of people that make this country the place it is today,!!" Alcantar wrote in a lengthy post captioning the video. "They are so full of hatred and anger towards someone that's just trying to support their family in order to give them a better life like it just makes no sense.
The clip starts off with McAlonis telling the man that sheriffs are "already on their way" before she covers her face and walks away as she realizes she is being recorded. Alcantar, who is filming using his cellphone, can then be heard saying something in Spanish as he pans the camera over to the fruit cart before focusing on Foster.
'I'm Not Your Bro'
"That's illegal," Foster tells Alcantar as he stands before him. "Get it the f**k out of here. This isn't the climate. It looks like shit," Foster can be heard saying.
"Look at the way that you're coming at people, bro," Alcantar says to Foster politely, to which the man responds, "Don't call me bro. I'm not your bro."
"I wish you were. I wish we were all friends but that's hard for some people to understand, Alcantar says. "It needs to f**king go," Foster says as Alcantar asks him to leave since he has already called the police.
Foster then sits down in front of the cart, waiting for the cops to arrive. "Why you gotta come out here and make everyone's life so hard?" Alcantar asks and Foster answers by saying, "We aren't the f**king ghetto. It needs to go."
When Alcantar asks Foster how the fruit cart makes the area "ghetto," he asks whether the vendor has the required permits for the same.
"There's so many things going on right now. They're food vendors. Never thought I'd experience this first hand. You're that upset that you need to come out here and belittle these people," Alcantar says before the video concludes.
Review-Bombing Bergie's Bar and Grill
The video, which has since gone viral on the internet, has sparked backlash on social media with users calling out the couple over their racist behavior and urging others to review-bomb their business with bad reviews.
"Leave a bad review under Bergies bar & grill because f**k that place & f**k the people who own it," wrote one user, while another commented, "this couple owns a bar in santa clarita called bergie's, leave those one star reviews."
Here are some of the other Twitter posts:
The Twitter universe didn't waste any time in flooding the establishment's Yelp page with negative reviews and managed to bring the overall review rating to 1-star.
Abuse of Immigrant Staff At Restaurant
One of the Yelp reviewers, who claims to be a former employee at the restaurant, alleged the owners exploited their migrant workers, paid them less than minimum wage and threatened to call the I.C.E (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on them.
The reviewer noted that they continuously hire undocumented staff, including Latino cooks, at the restaurant and underpay them (about $7.50 an hour) and force them to do whatever they say.
"The owners constantly threaten to call I.C.E. on the undocumented staff. This puts fear into them and they do whatever is asked of them. For example, work 8 hours with no breaks, other than a 20-minute meal break," the person says, before pointing out that the staff is made to clean up for an additional hour after their shift with "zero financial compensation."
The alleged ex-employee also claims the owners offer the immigrant staff a 5% discount on food whereas the white staff is given a 50% discount. "Mike and Renee are classless humans and should no longer reap the benefits of utilizing a Latino work staff that is afraid to speak up from management abuse."
