A Papa John’s employee has been fired after ProPublica communications manager Minhee Cho tweeted a photo of a receipt she received with a racial slur typed on it.
Cho ordered food from a New York City Papa Johns Friday at 8:10 p.m. Where Cho’s name should have appeared, the receipt instead read “lady chinky eyes.” Cho posted an image of the receipt to Twitter earlier today, which was retweeted more than 463 times. Within hours Papa Johns said on Twitter that the company had fired the employee.
“We are very upset by recent receipt issue in New York & sincerely apologize to our customer,” the official Papa Johns Twitter account tweeted about three hours ago. “Franchise employee involved is being terminated.”
The company also issued the following statement on its Facebook page:
We were extremely concerned to learn of the receipt issue in New York. This act goes against our company values, and we’ve confirmed with the franchisee that this matter was addressed immediately and that the employee is being terminated. We are truly sorry for this customer’s experience.
The restaurant chain is scouring Twitter for comments on the issue, responding to concerned users with a variation of this message “ Please know we have issued a formal apology, have reached out to customer & franchise employee is being terminated.”
This isn’t the first time a tweet has led to harsh disciplinary action. About two months ago feminist blogger and lawyer Jill Filipovic tweeted a photo of a crude note scrawled by a TSA agent on her inspected checked baggage regarding a personal item. The tweet caused a ruckus and caught the attention of the TSA who identified the individual responsible and fired him or her.
Photo by taberandrew