As members of the LGBTQ+ community, we’ve all had hate speech directed at us, and we know just how violent it is. It is dehumanizing, and it can make us feel fundamentally unsafe.
So it’s hard not to find some satisfaction in how quickly things are crashing down around attorney Aaron Schlossberg, 44, who was seen shouting deplorable, racist remarks at the employees of a Midtown Manhattan Fresh Kitchen in a video that went viral on Wednesday.
“If you are running a place in Midtown Manhattan, your staff should be speaking English, not Spanish!” he yells in the vid. And that’s pretty much the nicest thing he said.
As the store’s young, overburdened manager attempted to quietly escort Schlossberg from the establishment, the ranting just got worse. In a loud voice that certainly was overheard by anyone in the Fresh Kitchen, Schlossberg threatened to call ICE to have each of the restaurant’s employees “kicked out of my country.”
It’s no wonder the upsetting video rapidly caught fire. What is somewhat surprising is how rapidly the fallout followed behind. For starters, Schlossberg has been kicked out of his Manhattan workspace. He had a Midtown office on Madison Avenue (right across the street from the Fresh Kitchen) for his private law firm, but has been banned from the premises.
Hayim Grant, president of Corporate Suites which operates the building, told The New York Post: “We have terminated his service agreements with us. His actions are just not consistent with our community and rules and regulations … It’s totally contrary to everything we believe in as a company and personally.”
Furthermore, Schlossberg might lose his job. Congressman Adriano Espaillat and Bronx Borough president Ruben Diaz Jr. served a formal complaint against Schlossberg to the New York State Unified Court System’s Departmental Disciplinary Committee. If the complaint is supported by the committee, Schlossberg’s law license could be revoked.
In one of the more gratifying and undeniably funny videos you’ll see this week, Schlossberg sprinted away from NBC News reporters on Thursday. Enjoy:
https://twitter.com/NBCNewYork/status/997214014378856450
Right now, it looks like this lawyer really needs to find a lawyer. The positive takeaway from this whole lamentable ordeal is that it suggests this kind of behavior is now more unacceptable than ever. It’s hard not to be curious about where Schlossberg’s saga will go from here.
For more about the Schlossberg fallout: https://nypost.com/2018/05/17/racist-lawyer-kicked-out-of-his-office-space/
As horrible as the man is, I
As horrible as the man is, I find it extremely concerning that a person can be evicted because someone does not like something that they said. Also, I find the referral to the bar association extremely concerning because it was done by elected officials. This is potentially a constitutional violation. Our freedom of speech laws must be judged on how we deal with the people that we find most loathsome
We do not have hate speech laws for a reason. What's next? "Vote Clinton or you will be homeless"? "Any employees registered as Democrats will be summarily fired"? The slippery slope has happened far too many times, and they inevitably turn into censorship of political opinions.