Michael Lofthouse's questionable behaviour at a restaurant drew nationwide attention and criticism. Lofthouse, the founder and CEO of a San Francisco-based IT company Solid8, was caught on tape abusing an Asian family. The video went viral on social media, and netizens were fuming with anger over the US tech CEO, who also happens to be an immigrant, behaviour.
Lofthouse was kicked out of the restaurant after one of the staff stood up for the Asian family. Days later, Lofthouse issued an apology for his behaviour, but things didn't end there.
US tech CEO resigns after racial rant
In the aftermath of the racist incident earlier this month, Lofthouse, over the weekend, announced that he has severed ties with his startup he founded in 2017.
"I will make it my duty to ensure my personal actions do not continue to have a detrimental impact on those people closest to me," he said in a statement to the newspaper.
Lofthouse, in an apology following the incident, had said: "My behavior in the video is appalling. This was clearly a moment where I lost control and made incredibly hurtful and divisive comments. I would like to deeply apologize to the Chan family. I can only imagine the stress and pain they feel. I was taught to respect people of all races, and I will take the time to reflect on my actions and work to better understand the inequality that so many of those around me face every day."
Viral video
Chan shared a video recording of the incident after her family was "relentlessly harassed" at Lucia restaurant in Carmel Vally on the Fourth of July. Chan can be heard asking the man to repeat what he said, to which he starts off by flipping the finger and saying: "Trump's gonna f*** you! You f***ers need to leave... f***ing Asian piece of s**t."
In the caption to the video, Chan wrote: "This is the face of the man who relentlessly harassed my family and I completely UNPROVOKED, UNWARRANTED, and UNCONSCIONABLE. We were celebrating my tita's birthday, literally just singing happy birthday to her and taking pictures, when this white supremacist starts yelling disgusting racist remarks at us. ("F*** you Asians" "Go back to whatever f***ing Asian country you're from" "You don't belong here")."
