In a viral TikTok video, a woman tries to call out a hibachi worker after he honors Kobe Bryant while cooking. “This lady made our dinner awkward,” the customer who recorded the interaction, user @bankrollll704, wrote via text overlay.
The woman, another customer, asks the worker where he’s from. He says he’s from Mongolia.
“Watch this, my bro,” the hibachi worker says, before flipping the seasoning shaker back onto the cart. “Kobe,” he exclaims while pointing up to the sky.
“I’m talking about the Black Mamba, man. R.I.P.,” he continues.
However, the woman seemed to be confused.
“You gotta bring the Black man into this,” she says.
“Black man, what?” the worker responds.
The TikToker then explains that “black mamba” is Bryant’s nickname.
“Leave him alone,” she says to the hibachi worker.
In response, he explains that saying “Kobe” when you make a shot is a sign of respect for the late basketball player.
“Are you getting it? Y’all getting it?” the worker asks. “It’s not an insult or anything.”
The TikToker shared a second video of the hibachi worker as he continued to entertain the customers. He showed them a drawing of Bryant and his late daughter, Gianna.
“I drew this. I drew for him,” he says. “She’s saying over here to leave him alone.” He points up to the sky once again.
“You should tell her to shush her face,” another customer says.
The hibachi worker then brushed off the tension by saying that would ruin his chances with her.
“He had my family laughing and she was big mad 🤣,” the TikToker captioned the video.
The initial video garnered over 28.4 million views, while the second part received 2.4 million views. Several users in the comments were confused by the woman’s actions.
“Man showed straight respect for Kobe and she mad 🤦🏾,” one user said.
“So she thought he just randomly mentioned Kobe? 😳😂 Some people 🤦🏾♂️,” said another.
Others said the woman was racist because she asked the worker where he was from and seemed to get upset when he began talking about Bryant.
“Right after she said ‘Where you from?’ Jeeeeeesus Chriiiist,” one user said.
“Knew she was a racist the first few seconds asking the chef what country he is from,” said another.
However, many praised the hibachi worker for how he handled the woman’s comments. “Yeah I’m giving homie a $50 tip just for having to deal with her😂,” one user said.
The TikToker ensured that the hibachi worker kept the situation under control. “The night ended well with good spirits and laughter,” he said in a comment.
The Daily Dot reached out to user @bankrollll704 via Instagram messages.
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