A white man has been fired from his job as a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch after he was caught on video hurling a drink at an employee and calling her a “fucking immigrant.”
Over the weekend, the TikTok video, which has garnered more than 2.6 million views, showed 48-year-old James Iannazzo reacting in a hostile manner toward workers in the Robeks store in Fairfield, Connecticut on Saturday (Jan. 22). Reportedly, Iannazzo was upset because his 17-year-old son, who is allergic to nuts, was hospitalized after he went into a life-threatening anaphylactic shock after drinking a beverage from that location.
Iannazzo went into the Robeks, demanding to know who made the drink that his son consumed. “Fucking stupid, fucking ignorant high school kids,” he yelled. “I want to speak to the fucking person who made this drink.”
“Fucking bitch,” the man said to the female worker in the store, before throwing the smoothie at her. “You fucking immigrant loser,” he added. He then tried to force his way into an area of the store that was for employees only.
Following the confrontation, Iannazzo was arrested. According to CNBC, he was charged with intimidation based on bigotry or bias, breach of peace and criminal trespass. He is due to appear back in court on Feb. 7.
On Sunday (Jan. 23), Merrill Lynch terminated Iannazzo. A company spokesperson said they don’t “tolerate behavior of this kind.”
Iannazzo apologized for his actions, however, he insisted that he informed the staff of his son’s nut allergy while placing his order. “My actions at Robeks were wrong, and I deeply regret them. They do not reflect my values or my character. I feel terrible that I lost my composure so completely,” he said. “I had returned to Robeks to determine what ingredients were in the smoothie that I had previously ordered.”
Check out the video of the altercation below.