FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - A racist outburst at a McDonald's in Fresno, California, went viral on social media with hundreds of thousands of engagements since being posted over the weekend.
The man in the video said he stepped in when the woman was degrading McDonald's employees. Now, he's being called a hero.
The woman's employer, a dental office, said she no longer works for the business.
Luis Aceves is the man who confronted the woman in the video, which now has hundreds of thousands of views.
His friends were recording the whole incident while they were at lunch together. He said the woman exploded at employees over a soda.
"You [can't] come in here and try to degrade people. (bleep) you, you (bleep) Mexican. Hey!"
The video purportedly shows a Central Valley woman using a racist term toward a man at the McDonald's on Friday.
"I felt like that was when I needed to step in," said Luis Aceves.
"Employees were already explaining that someone was cussing at them through the window, the drive-thru window. We overheard them, too," he said.
"For me, it was like, 'Alright, that's none of my business,' but then once she started sitting there telling people 'Who are you? Look at where you work. Look at what you're wearing. You're at working at McDonald's.' You can even hear it on the video," said Aceves.
Nexstar's KSEE confirmed the woman's identity with her employer, the dental office of Jack Ohanesian, which sent out a statement on Saturday saying she was first on administrative leave, but later, they released a new statement saying, "An employee who was seen on video making offensive comments is no longer part of our team... Our diversity is our strength. It's a cornerstone of our lives and of [our] dental practice."
Despite the racist remarks, however, Aceves said he isn't holding any grudges toward the woman and is wishing her the best.
"I love my Raza, I love my Mexican culture, man," said Aceves.
"We shouldn't even be doing this to each other. We're all struggling and finding out purpose in life, and it just sucks when sometimes we have a bad day," he said.
We tried to reach the woman through her phone number to get her side of this story, but she did not answer our call.