Michael's Customer Rant

Submission 25,690

Overview

Michael's Customer Rant refers to video footage of a customer, who identifies herself as a Donald Trump supporter, going off on a racially charged tirade against the manager at the arts and craft retail store in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Upon being uploaded to YouTube in late November 2016, the video quickly went viral and caused a stir on the social media

Background

On November 23rd, 2016, Chicago resident Jessie Grady recorded a video of an argument that had erupted between a white female customer and a number of black employees at the Lakeside location of the American arts and craft retail chain Michael's. While the full scope of the argument remains unknown, Grady's video shows a white female customer berating the black employees at a Michael's store in Chicago, illinois for attempting to have her purchase a $1 reusable bag.

In the video, the woman accuses the employees of discriminating against her because of her skin color and her support of Donald Trump, quoted as saying:

“And I voted for Trump, so there. You want to kick me out because of that? And look who won.”

“I am making a report against you. You discriminated against me twice. […] Your job is to ring people up and tell them to have a nice day.”

Developments

On November 25th, Grady uploaded the video clip to YouTube, where it soon went viral and garnered more than 3.4 million views in less than a week.

GoFundMe Campaign

On November 26th, Grady launched a GoFundMe campaign for the store manager with a goal to raise $400 for a gift. Within 72 hours, the fundraising campaign had pulled in more than $29,000.

News Media Coverage

By November 28th, the Michael's customer's rant video had been picked up by several Chicago news outlets, including the Chicago Patch, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicagoist, as well as online news sites like The Daily Mail, Mediate, Refinery27, TIME and Death and Taxes.

Michael's Statement

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Michael's issued a statement saying that the company is "actively reviewing the situation," while thanking "the leadership of our store team in working to resolve (the confrontation) without further escalation.”