‘I Called Her Madeline Four Times’: Man Says Chili’s Fired Him Over Coworker’s Preferred Pronouns

A man is going viral after sharing video of what he says was his firing from Chili's, including the reason management gave for terminating him. Wesley Kirk Ford Jr., the man allegedly fired from the restaurant, appears to be recording his meeting with management in the back office in the clip now going viral. 

He appears to be standing behind a man sitting at a computer who appears to be reading from the termination notice explaining why he is being let go. Based on the notice and Ford's subsequent posts, he says he was "fired for calling a nonbinary coworker by her actual legal government-issued name."

Man Says He Used Coworker's Legal Name Instead of Preferred Name

In the clip of the alleged firing, which has since been reshared by X user @libsoftiktok, Ford is standing behind the man reading his termination notice while filming the interaction. The man can be heard reading Ford's alleged violation aloud from the computer screen before printing the document for him.

In the audio, the man reads, "Violation of the harassment and non-inclusion policy. Discrimination slash harassment. That's what it's titled."

He then continues reading the document which states because Ford allegedly continued to call the worker by their government-issued name instead of the nickname "Fish," and did not use they/them pronouns, the worker was unable to continue with their shift.

Ford can then be heard laughing in disbelief before clarifying to management, "She was physically unable to continue her shift because I called her Madeline four times."

In another clip, Ford shared a screenshot of the alleged violation notice printed out by management and told viewers he's "never been fired from a job before... never been asked to quit." So in addition to now needing to find a new job, he says he's also looking to hire a civil rights attorney because he isn’t prepared to let this slide. For context, Ford says he worked at a Chili's in Denham Springs. 

In the comments, people didn't side with Chili's. One person wrote, "Shame on Chili's," while another pointed out that the document allegedly refers to the worker as "her," even though Ford says he was fired for not using their preferred pronouns. "So he gets fired for not using 'they/them,' but the manager reads the firing document that calls they/them 'her,'" they wrote.

Another person even tagged Chili's and added, "Will not be receiving my patronage until they fire 'Fish' and pay out a severance to the man whose basic human rights they violated."

Chili's had not publicly responded to Ford's claims at the time of writing. The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the circumstances surrounding the alleged termination.