After making a TikTok video about how out of place he feels, a recent college grad was fired from his New York City corporate job. The video he posted garnered much criticism about racism as well as classism.
Griffin Green moved to the Bronx in New York to start a new job as a sales development rep at the software company Outreach. He was met with backlash after he posted a video of himself walking along the street one night saying, "OK, so I just moved to New York and I’m going to go grocery shopping, and so I type in like, ‘grocery stores’, on my Apple Maps, and every f–king one I go to… they’re like this s–t. Like bro, that’s not a grocery store."
Original account went private so here’s the video. pic.twitter.com/u9qKxhM7vC
— scuffed b. wiley (@scuffedbob) June 29, 2022
After the video went viral, many users mocked him for not understanding the basics of New York and dubbed him "Bodega Bro."
He is no longer an employee of Outreach.
— Outreach (@outreach_io) June 29, 2022
Many comments pointed out Green's overwhelming sense of privilege after he asked why there aren't any Krogers or Whole Foods in the area.
The TikTok user Dutch De Carvalho made a video in response to Green's saying, "I mean, what, he’s been here like two days? And he’s found a way to make fun of the stores that many people in the community rely on."
Internet detectives went further and searched Green's post history on TikTok and allegedly found other videos of him talking about different places in the Bronx, one video was him at a gym near his apartment saying, "I’m in the Bronx for a few weeks so I’m like the only white dude in this whole gym, so I got this NAACP shirt so these people vibe with me more."
They dug even deeper to find a video of Green showing off a confidential offer-of-employment document from Outreach for his new position. This prompted people on the internet to contact Outreach and show them the videos of Green mocking the New York borough.
A user wrote from a private account, "I don’t think it’s very flattering to have this type of person representing your company. I would revalue his employment if I were you."
The company replied, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Upon investigation, we took swift internal action in accordance with our company policies and in alignment with our core values. He is no longer an employee of Outreach."
Outreach's reason for terminating Green was based on the video of him sharing the confidential document and not about his behavior at the bodega.
The company made a statement about the termination of Green saying, "It is against company policy for employees to leak private and confidential information, and grounds for termination. We remain committed to building our culture that finds strength in our diversity, equity and inclusion — and a company where all can succeed."
Green's social media accounts quickly went private. Many people responded to Outreach's firing of Green saying they were giving in to the "woke mob".
Bodega Bro shouldn't have been fired.
— Zanarkand Dog (@ZanarkandDog) July 1, 2022
He wasn't racist. He was a fish out of water.
His TikTok was cringe, but getting your privileged little mind blown by big city food deserts isn't a good enough reason to lose your income when you first move to a new city.
One woman said that Green wasn't in the wrong for calling out New York for not having adequate grocery stores in the Bronx.
"Nah I’m a black woman who moved from suburban Georgia and had the exact same reaction especially moving to Flatbush Brooklyn where there is exactly one real grocery store," she said.
nah im a blk woman who moved to bk from suburban georgia and had the exact same reaction esp moving to flatbush brooklyn where there is exactly one real grocery store. it’s hard to feed yourself out here that’s y it’s called a food desert. ppl shouldn’t have to live like this.
— (@elf__angel_) June 28, 2022
Green was fired on his second day of work and is now facing financial crisis just having signed a 12 month lease on an apartment. The company is also holding back a $2,500 dollar relocation bonus that was part of his first check.
In an interview, Green said, "People can be painted as these mean awful people when really they’re just trying to explore new things. I was exploring New York for the first time…I didn’t know that people do grocery shopping at these corner stores. It was more of an intent to almost like make fun of myself for being a new person in the city."
Many people say that Green is a victim of cancel culture and have vowed to help him recover financially from this mistake.
However, it seems Green's mistake was posting a video with confidential information about the company he just got hired by, not about the bodega incident.
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