Kyle Thomas, a radiology tech from Mississippi, has been fired from his job at a local hospital after he was caught on video using the n-word multiple times while screaming at a black woman at a donut shop. Video of the incident at Donut Palace in Flowood, near Jackson, Mississippi, went viral this weekend after it was posted to Facebook.
Ayoka Pond, a spokesperson for Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, where Thomas worked, said in a statement to Heavy, “We are aware of the confrontation captured on video involving one of our off duty employees at a local donut shop. We take this situation very seriously. This employee’s language and behavior does not represent our organization’s values and his employment has been terminated.”
Pond added, “We want our patients, employees, physicians and our community to know that we find the language used in the video to be completely unacceptable and inconsistent with what we expect from employees or anyone associated with our organization. We are committed to a work environment that is inclusive and where everyone is respected and valued.”
Thomas can be seen in scrubs in the video, which is about a minute long. As Thomas argues with an employee of the donut shop, another woman who works there, Keaundrea Wardlaw, films him. Thomas then turns his attention toward Wardlaw and says, “shut your f*cking mouth.” She responds, “who are you talking to?” He then replies, “you’re a child, shut up.” She then calls him a “son of a b*tch” ands says “you don’t talk to me that way.” Thomas then begins to leave the store while telling the employees, “I will be back to talk to your manager.”
On his way out of the store, Thomas drops his keys or phone to the ground and stops to pick them up. Thomas then yells at Wardlaw, “You’re a n*gger. You’re a n*gger, shut up.” She yells back at him, “oh I’m a n*gger? now I’m a n*gger? And you’re a b*tch. Say it again.” He then says, “n*gger,” twice more before walking out the door to his car.
You can watch the video below (warning – graphic language):
Donut Palace could not be reached for comment about the incident. Wardlaw, the employee who filmed the encounter, told the Clarion-Ledger that Thomas was upset about service. She said she didn’t want him to lose his job, but she doesn’t think he should have used the n-word, according to the newspaper. Wardlaw said Thomas later returned and apologized to her manager. She told the newspaper she would also accept an apology from Thomas. Thomas could not be reached for comment by Heavy.
Thomas, a 35-year-old Brandon, Mississippi, resident, deleted his social media account after he was identified by social media users. Before he deleted his Facebook page, he wrote a statement saying, “I am so sorry, there is nothing I can say that will change what I said. I drove back up there and tried to apologize and she had gone. I regret every word that I said there is no excuse to every say these horrible things.”
Thomas added in his Facebook post, “I only hope that by me sharing a public apology in this incident you could show me some grace. I was upset about another issue and it spilled over into this and I can’t apologize enough.”
