Man faces backlash after racially-charged rant against Spanish-speaking restaurant workers goes viral
MIDTOWN EAST, Manhattan (WABC) -- After video of a man's race-fueled rant at a Midtown restaurant went viral, he's apparently facing the consequences of his actions.
The man, who appears to be a Manhattan-based lawyer, was caught on camera delivering a racially-charged tirade over workers speaking Spanish inside Fresh Kitchen in Midtown around noon Tuesday.
"The clients of your staff are speaking Spanish to customers, when they should be speaking English," the man said in the video. "If they have the balls to come here and live off of my money, I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here. The least they could do is speak English."
Video from 2016 has also surfaced of the man apparently involved in another confrontation on a Manhattan street, where he calls another man an "ugly (expletive) foreigner."
WATCH: 'Ugly (expletive) foreigner': 2016 video of apparent lawyer surfaces after recent viral rant
Since the Fresh Kitchen incident, Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have filed a formal complaint against an attorney they are identifying as Aaron Schlossberg, naming him based on social media and "credible reports."
Espaillat, who was born in the Dominican Republic, and Diaz wrote: "The audacity to profile and verbally assault innocent bystanders and customers in a public commercial location is a violation of our civil society. We watched Aaron's video and we were disgusted."
He was admitted to the bar in 2003 and has no record of public discipline. He is the founder of his own firm.
Sources tell Eyewitness News that the man from the video is no longer allowed in 275 Madison, where he rents an office space on the 14th floor.
If he shows up, Corporate Suites, the company that owns the building, will kick him out, sources said.
Eyewitness News spoke to the 35-year-old customer who captured the rant on her cell phone. She speaks Spanish and works as an office manager, but she did not want to be identified.
She said the angry customer lost it after the person ahead of him started ordering in Spanish.
"I just looked at him and said, 'You're very ignorant,'" she said. "He said, 'I'm highly educated and I doubt you are, and you need to go back to your country.' I said, 'Funny, I am in my country. I was born and raised here in New York.'"
After the video was posted online, the lawyer's Facebook page lit up:
"I'm in tears reading these comments," one person wrote. "The internet is going to have a field day. Your law career in New York City is officially over."
Another person wrote, "Wow dude, you're going to have leave town, serves you right."
Another post read: "Way to ruin your business bro', was it worth it? Do you feel big now?".
The lawyer may not like Spanish, but his web site claims he speaks it fluently. It also claims he's a member of the New York State Bar, and if he is, it's news to them. Wednesday night the bar said, "He is not a current member of our voluntary association."
Some New Yorkers have gotten together to hold a Latin-themed party at the lawyer's office on Friday at 4 p.m. The party will include a mariachi band and taco truck.
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