Radiology tech was fired for calling donut shop worker the N-word in viral video

A Mississippi radiology tech was fired from his job at the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center after a video of him aiming racial slurs at a doughnut shop employee went viral on social media.

The man, identified as Kyle Thomas, worked in the radiology department at the Medical Center in Flowood.

He visited the Donut Palace over the weekend, wearing his scrubs, and the video posted by several activists show how the man is arguing with another employee behind the counter while being recorded by Keaundrea Wardlaw.

Thomas changes his attention to the woman, after she tells him “I hope you don’t deal with children,” asking her to “shut up” using foul language. She then gets defensive saying “Who are you talking to?” as he keeps swearing at her.

The man then makes his way out of the store, but just as he reaches the store, he drops something. That’s when he angrily throws the N-word at Wardlaw, who, in disbelief, dares him to say that again. Thomas repeats the racial slur several times, despite being aware of the camera, until he finally leaves the store.

Wardlaw followed him outside to get his license plate, and the video ends.

The clip was shared to social activist Shaun King’s Facebook page, earning over 1.2 million views. People on the comments set the mission to found the man’s workplace and get him fired, and it took only a few days to do it.

Ayoka Pond, a spokesperson for the Mississippi Baptist Medical Center, gave the following statement to WJTV:

“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 do not represent our organization’s values, and his employment has been terminated.”

And continued:

“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 allegedly returned to the Donut Palace to apologize with the manager for causing troubles but didn’t apologize to Wardlaw. He deleted his Facebook page after people started to call him out, but not before sharing a public apology that read:

“I regret every word that I said there is no excuse to every [sic] say these horrible things. 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.”

Wardlaw said to WJTV that she never intended to get the man fired from his job, but that he shouldn’t have used the N-word. She also revealed that the whole thing could have been dismissed if he had apologized to her.