Man Arrested & Fired From His Job After Calling Smoothie Shop Workers ‘Immigrant Losers’ In Viral TikTok
Nothing justifies treating service workers like this.
TikTok / Fairfield Police Department A 48-year-old man in Fairfield, Connecticut was arrested on Saturday after an altercation with some workers inside of a smoothie store where things started to get physical.
Before James Iannazzo’s arrest, he was recorded by one of the workers yelling and screaming at the teenagers, reciting racist remarks, and attempting to break through the employee-only doorway to the back of the store, where the girls were confronting him from.
A viral TikTok showed James Iannazzo throwing a smoothie at the workers.
Iannazzo was a Merrill Lynch wealth manager who decided to step into Robeks, a smoothie chain, to purchase some drinks for him and his family, only to return 30 minutes later with a problem.
He returned in a rage and demanded to know who made the drink he was holding, later claiming that his kid had an allergic reaction due to someone putting peanuts in the drink.
“I want to speak to the f***ing person who made this drink, is that you?” he yelled at the girl who was recording the TikTok, which has since been deleted.
He asked not to be videotaped, to which the girl recording said that he had no place to yell at them, so it’s likely that he had already begun yelling at them before they started recording.
In a likely attempt to try and diffuse the situation, they replied saying they didn’t know who made the drink, “there’s four of us here so we obviously don’t know.”
But it seemed to only make things worse, because he started yelling at them vulgarly, calling them idiots and verbally abusing the workers.
Things escalated when one of the girls took the matter into her own hands and confronted him, telling him that she could call corporate and told him to get out, repeatedly, which prompted the man to throw his drink at the girl while she was looking away, starting a heated exchange between the two.
“You f***ing immigrant loser,” he yelled. When he tried to enter through the back, they had already locked it and started to call the police, but he continued on his rampage until the police showed up.
James Iannazzo was arrested a fired from his job following the altercation.
According to the Fairfield Police Department statement, Iannazzo was arrested on second-degree intimidation based on bigotry or bias, second-degree breach of peace, and first-degree criminal trespass.
They also verified that EMS was called to the Iannazzo residence to render assistance with the juvenile who was suffering from an allergic reaction, sending them to a local area hospital.
“During the investigation, employees reported that Iannazzo never told them about the peanut allergy but had only requested that there be no peanut butter in his drink,” read the statement.
"My actions at Robek’s 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," Iannazzo told TMZ.
“I was out of my mind with fear for him when I returned to Robek’s,” he said, referring to his son who is okay now, “And I wish I had not done so. I also wish they had been more careful preparing my son’s beverage. I will be extending my apologies personally to the Robek’s organization, particularly the staff that was working there that night."
Bill Haldin, a spokesperson for Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, said in a statement, “Our company does not tolerate behavior of this kind. We immediately investigated and have taken action. This individual is no longer employed at our firm.”
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.