A Springfield, Illinois KFC employee has learned the hard way that words have consequences especially when they are homophobic slurs. On Wednesday, February 24, Joshua Garner shared a video to his Facebook page of the employee directing a homophobic rant at Garner and his boyfriend, Lee Walls.
According to a local Springfield news outlet, WAND, the couple was picking up an order for Door Dash and as Walls was informing the customer over the phone about an unavailable food item and a misunderstood gesture led to the KFC employee, identified by KHQA as Payton Burke, lashing out at the couple. It was at that point the employee starting shouting homophobic slurs at them.
With both he and Garner shook by the incident, Walls called the police on the employee.
“I have done two tours in Afghanistan and I have seen some crazy things, but never have I had it where I freeze up, and I just freeze up,” Walls told WAND-TV.
The next day Garner posted on Facebook he received threats over the incident.
KFC issued a statement concerning the incident on Thursday:
“The behavior of the team member in this video is completely unacceptable, and the team member has been terminated. The franchisee who owns the restaurant has been in touch with the guest regarding this incident and offered an apology.”
The other employee shown in the video has been suspended pending an investigation according to KHQA.
The video can be seen in full below.
Sources: WAND, KHQA, Joshua Garner Facebook Account, Car Crash TV YouTube Channel
