Cinnabon Fired an Employee Who Was Caught on Camera Shouting Slurs at Customers

The customer may not always be right, but a good rule of customer service is that you shouldn't hurl slurs at them. After a woman who worked for a Cinnabon in Wisconsin was caught on tape doing exactly that, the video went viral.

Now, the employee in question has been fired, and the story is making headlines across the country. Here's what we know about the video, who was fired, and why the story is causing such a stir.

In a statement on social media, Cinnabon confirmed that the employee in question had been fired "immediately."

"We’ve seen the disturbing video from the Cinnabon bakery in Ashwaubenon, Wis., and we do not condone this behavior. The former employee was immediately terminated by the franchise owner. Their actions do not reflect our values or the welcoming experience every guest deserves," their statement on X (formerly known as Twitter) reads.

The company also made an additional statement to the Associated Press, saying that the employee's "actions and statements are completely unacceptable and in no way reflect the values of Cinnabon, our franchisees, or the welcoming environment we expect for every guest and team member."

The viral video was originally posted on TikTok and showed a white, female Cinnabon employee cursing at customers as one of them records the encounter.

The video also shows her saying racial slurs, including the n-word, and she makes the statement, "I am racist, and I'll say it to the whole entire world. Don't be disrespectful."

The incident appears to have happened at a mall in a suburb of Green Bay, Wis., and because the video has gone viral, people are already starting to take sides in the conflict, with some arguing (without providing a reason) that Cinnabon was wrong to fire the employee.

Although Crystal Wilsey, the woman fired in the video, undoubtedly hurled slurs at people she was supposed to be serving (a Somali couple), she has nonetheless managed to make a profit off the news of her firing. Although the GiveSendGo page has now been taken down, reports suggest that Conservative activist Tom Hennessey had raised more than $250,000 for Crystal before it was.

Crystal, meanwhile, tried to defend her actions in a clip on TikTok.

In defending her use of the n-word, Crystal explained that she had been called a racist, and hurled the word in the faces of the couple in response. That doesn't make it OK, but Crystal seems to have been arguing that the clip didn't provide the full context behind the incident.

It's also unclear whether the money raised for Crystal will actually make its way to her. Regardless, though, this is another example of someone behaving badly in public and being rewarded for it. Sometimes, people are fired for bad reasons. And sometimes, they yell invectives at customers in a job where a majority of the reason you're hired is to talk to customers.