Illinois Dairy Queen Owner Loses Business After Racist Rant
A Dairy Queen in Zion, Ill. has been shut down after its owner went on a racist rant targeted at a black woman and her children.
Deianeira Ford stopped by the Dairy Queen to reward her two children after being well-behaved while visiting their grandmother. She ordered a $5 box and noticed that the order was wrong. After asking for it to be fixed, she got into a verbal altercation with the franchise’s owner, James “Jim” Crichton.
Ford then asked for a full refund, which Chrichton offered, along with more than his two cents on how he felt about her and her family.
“He called me and my children n—–; he said I can go back to where I came from,” Ford told The Washington Post.
“He took out his flip phone and he said he would take a picture and put it on Facebook because he wants to show the world what kind of n—— he has to deal with. Then he shut the window and walked away.”
Ford then sat in the parking lot, crying and shaking, and called police. When an officer arrived, he found Ford crying in the parking lot and went to talk to Crichton, who didn’t deny any of the accusations.
“Crichton boastfully told me he would be happy to go to jail over the issue and proudly admitted to calling Ford a n——. He added that he is ‘fed up with black people,’ ” and described an incident in which two “of them” were in his restaurant squirting ketchup all over the floor, according to the officer’s report.
“During the course of my conversation with Crichton, he used the word ‘n—–‘ freely to describe black people,” the officer continued.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much the officer could do in regards to the law. Ford later retold her story on Facebook.
Two days later, Dairy Queen headquarters was made aware of the incident and released a public statement condemning Crichton’s actions. The disgraced owner then released a public apology of his own, but the damage was already done. The Zion Dairy Queen announced that it would be closing its doors.
Ford’s account was allegedly one of many against Crichton. Unfortunately, his racist actions have cost his employees their jobs.
Photo Credit: Wiki Commons