A transgender delivery driver and online sex worker confronted a Popeyes employee after he allegedly called her “sir.” A video featuring the confrontation has gone viral and sparked controversial comments.
Laura Hobbs, whose online name is Commie DickGurl, shared a video of the Friday incident in Tucson, Arizona, to her YouTube channel, and it has been viewed almost 8,000 times since being posted on Saturday.
Hobbs told the Daily Dot she was picking up a delivery from the restaurant when an employee offered to get the door and referred to her as “sir.”
She said the employee had a “big grin on his face” when making the remark. When asked if the employees were aware of her personal pronouns, Hobbs said she had never met them before.
On Wednesday, Alex Prevost, who identified himself as the manager, told the Daily Dot he never met Hobbs before and didn’t know of her personal pronouns.
“I was about to close [when Hobbs came in] so I locked the door and then I told the customer ‘whenever your food is ready, I’ll unlock the door for you,’” Prevost said. Prevost said Hobbs thought he called her “sir” but insists he didn’t.
Hobbs had a different version of the story.
“I confronted him for addressing me as ‘sir’ and he gave me a raised eyebrow and simply denied it,” Hobbs said. “I mocked him for calling an obvious woman with breast[s] sir. I told him he’s lying and trying to gaslight me and that I was pissed and sick of people doing this.”
Hobbs said Prevost then said, “I don’t give a fuck, bro.”
That’s when Hobbs put the order in her car and took her phone inside the store to confront him.
The video begins with Hobbs taking her phone in the store and sharing her frustration with the harassment trans people experience daily.
“What’s your name?” Hobbs questions, with the camera facing Prevost, who’s behind the counter. “I’m gonna be talking to the manager. This guy called me ‘sir’!”
“I certainly didn’t,” Prevost says.
“This happens every fucking day. I’m so tired of it!” Hobbs says. “Why would you call a chick with big ass tits fucking… why would you call?”
Prevost repeatedly says, “I didn’t say that,” and Hobbs says: “No, stop trying to gaslight trans people and tell us we’re crazy… You need to fucking be mindful of other people, and stop being a scumbag, and you’re a liar!”
Throughout the altercation, Prevost insists he didn’t refer to her as “sir.”
Hobbs then exits the restaurant before going back in and yelling: “Wait, what… Did you try to call me ‘sir’ again?”
“Alex, Imma be talking to corporate about you, motherfucker. Fuck you!” Hobbs says. “That’s bullshit! You don’t fucking harass trans people at work.”
Hobbs claims that Prevost said, ‘Have a good night, sir’ to her. Hobbs told the Daily Dot that she’s never had any issues with Popeyes employees before.
“No, this is discrimination!” Hobbs says in the video, her voice rising. “I’m fucking done with it.”
She then turns the camera toward a group of employees standing by the counter, and one of them yells, “Get out of the store!”
She alleges again that Prevost called her “sir” twice when one of the other employees says Prevost called her “sir” only the second time.
Prevost told the Daily Dot that he didn’t call her “sir” the first time.
“[She] kept accusing me of saying something I didn’t say,” he told the Daily Dot. Prevost admitted that he started “being rude back” to Hobbs after she “wouldn’t stop.”
The video then continues with a back-and-forth between Hobbs and Prevost: Hobbs claiming Prevost harassed her, and Prevost repeatedly saying he didn’t call her that.
“Cis people need to be held accountable for how they treat trans people,” Hobbs continues. “And I’m not gonna put up with this shit anymore.”
“You’re crazy, bro!” one of the employees says.
“Don’t fucking call me bro!” Hobbs yells. “Stop fucking throwing slurs at me, you fucking piece of shit!”
“Have a good night, sis!” someone else says.
“No, fuck you! I ain’t your fucking sis. I ain’t your fucking bro. You don’t even fucking know me!” she says.
Another employee is seen “flashing” a sign at her, but it’s not clear what the sign is.
Hobbs is eventually asked to leave the store.
“She tried making me look bad but I honestly don’t care ’cause at the end of the day my entire crew saw what happened and I did nothing wrong except curse,” Prevost told the Daily Dot.
Hobbs alleged that Prevost sicced trolls on her via social media following the incident—something Prevost has denied.
“She posted it online to get peoples attention and that’s exactly what it got,” Prevost said. “I have no control on who comments or sees the video. I didn’t send anyone to go ‘troll.’”
Hobbs said she filed a complaint with the Popeyes’ corporate office, which reportedly told her the incident will be investigated. The Daily Dot reached out to Popeyes and will update the report if it responds.
In a Reddit thread, where the video was posted, some people said they thought Prevost “made an honest mistake.”
“I understand that trans people want to have their preferred pronouns used, and that’s all well and good, but the kid seems to just be making an honest mistake,” wrote one person. “That’s a far cry from harassment or discrimination, it’s not like they wouldn’t let her order because she is trans.”
“As someone who works retail I accidentally call people by the wrong pronoun all the time,” wrote another person. “Most of the time they arent even trans! Sometimes you think it is a man or a woman from the back or side and you are wrong. Then you apologize. I have never had anyone get upset at me over it.”
Hobbs said she believes the altercation “sets a dangerous” precedent and that she doesn’t think Prevost should continue to be a manager at the location.
“It seems like they want to say that his transphobic bullying was justified because I accused him so aggressively,” Hobbs said.
“I want there to be an understanding that these transphobic comments hurt the community and it feels like Popeye’s is okay with transphobia as long as the transgender person is seen as in the wrong,” she continued. “This is very bad for transgender people who are already marginalized.”
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