Jimmy John’s mock lynching with bread dough leads to four employees being fired. Social media responds to video uploaded at Woodstock, Georgia outlet.
What’s in the shape of bread dough? Two white employees at a Jimmy John’s store in Georgia have been fired after they filmed themselves staging a mock lynching with a noose made out of bread dough.
A Snapchat video of the incident, which reportedly took place at the sandwich chain’s Woodstock location, went viral over the weekend after being shared on social media.
In the 16-second clip a young male employee is seen placing the makeshift noose over the head of a coworker and yanking it upward as if to hang him.
A third employee, who is also white, is seen laughing and recording the tasteless stunt on his phone.
The viral video was filmed by a fourth person behind the counter at the store who added a patriotic ‘Happy 4th of July’ sticker when it was originally posted to Snapchat.
Jimmy John’s employees in Woodstock, Georgia make a noose out of dough and joke and laugh about hanging with it. @jimmyjohns has taken immediate action and the employees have been terminated. #JimmyJohns #Noose pic.twitter.com/uQKiGpCwLL
— Aiyana Cristal (@aiyanacristal) July 5, 2020
Cancel culture via social media to punish those who offend kicks in again
Twitter user @urwildlol posted it on Sunday with the caption: ‘i am disgusted. this is in a jimmy johns. they made a noose with dough.. please retweet and share to get them fired.’
A Jimmy John’s representative confirmed hours later that all of the employees in the video and who shared it on social media had been fired.
‘The actions seen in this video are completely unacceptable and do not represent the Jimmy John’s brand nor the local ownership team,’ spokesperson Jack D’Amato said in a statement.
‘To ensure that this never happens again, we will also be meeting with ALL employees individually and as a group immediately to relay the importance of acceptance, love, and kindness of all people regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or background.
Tasteless yes- but racist?
Tweeted Jimmy John’s: ‘The We have zero tolerance for racism or discrimination in any form. The franchisee has taken immediate action and the employees have been terminated. The actions seen in this video are completely unacceptable and do not represent the Jimmy John’s brand.’
None of the employees who were terminated have been identified.
The video led to some social media users debating whether the workers ‘deserved to now have their lives ruined’, following their firing and presumed eventual outing as they argued while less than tasteful, whether the video itself actually supported racist attitudes and more the (mis)behavior of errant young men ‘having fun.’
Climate of racial tension in United States
Of note, the ‘offensive’ mock lynching video comes amid ongoing tensions as the US has been roiled by weeks of anti-racism protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest on May 25.
Images of workers enacting behavior which many find offensive and at best discourteous and insensitive has led to corporate America quickly firing those employees who could be argued to be ‘tarnishing’ their employer’s image and conflicting with employer worker codes.
Last month it was revealed that authorities were investigating a string of six hangings involving black Americans around the since Floyd’s death.
So far officials have ruled every case a suicide, but each of the incidents fueled fears and suspicions about the possibility of lynchings as racial tensions continue to fester nationwide.
