An Arizona executive has removed himself from his post after a YouTube he shot video went viral.
Adam Smith stepped down from his position as chief financial officer at Vante, a medical manufacturing firm in Tuscon, Ariz., after he posted a video that finds him yelling at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru employee for working at a “hateful corporation.”
Smith shot the video, which has since been deleted (though a number of reuploads exist!), himself and included a proper introduction in which he explains that he’s about to pick up a free water from Chick-fil-A—the delectable southern fast food chain that’s been all the buzz lately thanks to company CEO Dan Cathy’s public statements against same-sex marriage—and “say a few words, too.”
It doesn’t take him long after receiving the water to take a few liberties with the First Amendment.
“Chick-fil-A is a hateful corporation,” he tells the poor lady working the window, who tries her best to act pleasant. “It’s a corporation that gives money to hate groups.
“I’m glad that I can take a little money from Chick-fil-A and give a little less money to hate groups. I don’t know how you live with yourself and work here. This is a horrible corporation.”
The original video was taken down from YouTube, but a copy posted by another user has accumulated 150,000 views since Aug. 1.
Roger Vogel, Vante’s CEO, told the Arizona Daily Star that the decision for Smith to step down was mutual.
“We obviously found it very disturbing,” he said. “We respect everybody’s ability to share their opinions in the public square and we have a very diverse workforce with a diverse set of opinions. We expect employees to behave in a professional manner that’s commensurate with their positions and discuss their opinions in a civil fashion. … We thought what he did was inappropriate.”
Photo via YouTube
