What to know
- A Toronto artist known as Bouff is seeking accountability after he was called a racial slur multiple times and threatened by another customer at an Osmow’s Shawarma location in Cambridge, Ont.
- The video of the incident, which has garnered thousands of likes and comments, shows the customer repeatedly using the slur while Bouff alleges the employee behind the counter laughed and failed to intervene after a dispute over a portion of chicken.
- Osmow’s has since called the incident unacceptable, confirmed the employee involved was let go and promised improved staff training, though Bouff says he is still waiting for a proper public apology from the company.
A Toronto man is seeking action after he was called a racial slur multiple times at an Osmow’s Shawarma location in Cambridge, Ont. on Jan. 23.
The man, who’s a local artist by the name of Bouff, posted the video on his Instagram on Tuesday.
The video shows a customer making a call to an unknown person while also calling Bouff a racial slur and other profanities. He also threatened Bouff, saying “he’ll see” who the person on the phone was.
The clip garnered over 15,000 likes and hundreds of comments as of publication.
One user wrote, “The way he’s smiling and laughing so confidently would’ve made me [fight] him fr.”
Another agreed, writing “Man needs his ears ringing. They’re getting bold now.”
In an interview with Now Toronto, Bouff said the incident happened while he was out-of-town for rehearsals for a listening party.
“Upon walking in, I could tell the guy already had a bad day,” Bouff says, referring to the employee inside. “…But I understand everyone has their days or whatever, so I just let it slide. It wasn’t nothing too deep, and it’s so silly how all of this started, because it was just over a portion of chicken.”
Bouff said he was only getting half a scoop of chicken versus the regular full scoop. After he asked the employee about this, things quickly got out of hand.
“That’s when the customer that ended up calling me the slur walked in right behind me,” he says. “And then this guy turns to this random customer, and is like ‘hey, I served him this, he’s talking about more chicken.’ And you can see him kind of switch from English to his language. I’m not sure if it’s Punjabi or not, but the two start having a discussion and you see me step back.”
The employee then allegedly told Bouff he was going to take the other customer’s order first but he didn’t agree. That’s when Bouff said the customer muttered the racial slur the first time.
“The next thing I hear is ‘n-words [are] always making problems,’ and…I was like ‘there’s no way he just said that.’”
Bouff says when he confronted the customer, he then proceeded to say it another time and the employee behind the counter allegedly laughed.
That’s when Bouff began recording, where the man was shown saying the slur two more times.
“I try not to let the name, that slur, have power over me,” he says. “So, it’s not like I get so sad over it, but it’s also more so using that word in that way, with an intent to hurt and make sure you degrade somebody, is crazy. That’s something I can never stand for.”
Bouff says this was the first time this has ever happened to him in Canada.
“[I have] never been called this before, not even [in] the states,” Bouff says. “This is happening right here at home in Canada, and even more so in a town like Cambridge…and then being called out by a fellow BIPOC person. He’s a person of colour…a person of colour that also goes to certain prejudices. You expect them to know a bit more about empathy or not using certain words or deregulatory terms on other racialized groups, but I guess he didn’t care.”
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He echoes this in his video’s caption, garnering a lot of reaction from other users.
One commenter responded, “It is shocking when you experience blatant racism for the 1st time. Consider yourself blessed that you went this long before it happened to you. I’m still sorry that it happened though. They literally hate us for breathing.”
Bouff initially spoke to the branch manager on the phone, but said the manager was not apologetic and did not take any accountability for his employee.
Bouff says he then spoke with CEO Ben Osmow, who he said was apologetic.
Osmow’s says situation is unacceptable
The official Osmow’s Instagram account also posted a statement following the incident on Wednesday.
“We expect better from restaurant crew members, and this situation is unacceptable in our restaurants,” it said in part.
The company went on to say it spoke with the customer and has since let the involved employee go.
“We pride ourselves in creating a safe, welcoming, and respectful restaurant as part of every community and appreciate all of our customer feedback and support,” they ended.
But this response wasn’t enough for Bouff.
“Based [on] the comment section and people giving their own experiences, this is something that has happened to them several times,” he says. “And it’s not about being called a slur but this horrible customer service, being treated a certain way, talked to a certain way, these are things that I think they could do better.”
Osmow’s also said it will be improving its training to ensure their employees could handle these kinds of situations with respect.
Bouff says this was a good start, but he is still waiting for a public apology.
“I need them to word it properly,” he explains. “At first, even in the comment section, they were more like, ‘Hey, we just want you guys to know that the person in this video is not an Osmow’s employee,’ and I was like ‘Brother, it’s not about the person calling me the racial slur. It’s the customer service. It’s the fact that I got threatened and you have a task or a duty, to call the police or kick us out [of] the store.’”
“You did not do that. You continued to serve the guy. The guy didn’t even pay for extra chicken and you gave him extra chicken. That’s serious, because this is why the whole thing started in the first place, because I was asking for just one scoop of chicken.”
Bouff says the customer could not be legally charged as his wording wasn’t threatening enough.
Nevertheless, he believes the video posted will still serve justice toward the customer.
“I believe that social media will do a lot more, because in the long term, when your face is plastered around forever, it’s a digital footprint for you, for your brother, your kids, for your parents to see.”
