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The CEO of a San Francisco tech company apologized on Tuesday after he was captured on video at a restaurant over the Fourth of July weekend cursing at an Asian family.
Michael Lofthouse, CEO of Solid8, LLC, a San Francisco IT and cloud computing services company founded in 2017, was seen sitting at his table at Lucia Bar & Restaurant inside the Bernardus Lodge & Spa in Carmel Valley, Calif., on Saturday.
"Trump's gonna f*** you!" Lofthouse said to an Asian family sitting across the restaurant, giving them the middle finger. "You f***ers need to leave... f***ing Asian piece of s***."
Jordan Liz Chan, who recorded the video and posted it on Instagram, said she was with family celebrating her aunt’s birthday “literally just singing happy birthday to her and taking pictures, when this white supremacist starts yelling disgusting racist remarks at us.”
“Say that again. Now, you’re shy?” Chan first tells Lofthouse.
A restaurant employee later yells for Lofthouse to "Get out, you are not allowed here. You do not talk to our guests like that. They are valued guests. Get out!"
WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS PROFANITY
“My behavior in the video is appalling. This was clearly a moment where I lost control and made incredibly hurtful and divisive comments,” Lofthouse said in a statement on Tuesday, according to KGO. “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."
Raymond Orosa, a member of the family targeted at the restaurant, said of the apology: “He's just saving face. I think he really meant what he said and what he did.
"I don't believe his words because his actions speak louder than the words he's saying,"
Orosa and his wife Mari, whose birthday the family was celebrating, have lived in the U.S. for nearly 26 years.
"He was full of hate and anger. It's sad that there are still people that are like that in this world, let alone in this country," he continued. “I can't say what he did was acceptable or right. It isn't. A lot of people will probably disagree with me for saying I forgive him, but I do."
Chan, meanwhile, blamed President Trump for giving racists a platform and amplifying voices of hate.
“The surfacing of racists is so prevalent right now, even in such an ethnically/culturally diverse and liberal state like California, because Trump HIMSELF uses his position to incite racial tension and to promote aggression towards POC, foreigners, and immigrants. We need change!” she wrote.
In a statement issued this week, vice president and general manager of Bernardus Lodge and Spa, Sean Damery, also said: "This is an extremely unfortunate situation, however, we are proud of our staff at Lucia in keeping with Bernardus Lodge's core values; this incident was handled swiftly and the diner was escorted off property without further escalation.”
“We provide guests with a safe environment for lodging and dining, and extend our sincere apologies to the guests enjoying a birthday celebration on a holiday weekend," Damery wrote.
A LinkedIn profile for Solid8 says that the company is based in San Francisco, and provides expertise around “cloud transformation.” The company has two employees, according to the LinkedIn profile. Lofthouse’s profile on LinkedIn is no longer available.
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The San Francisco-based tech company is unaffiliated with a similarly named British company – Solid8 Consulting Ltd. -- which has been mistakenly derided on social media.
“It appears that my company, Solid8 Consulting Ltd, is being incorrectly attacked for racism and hatred. We are currently receiving huge amounts of emails, calls and messages from people accusing us of having a CEO that is racist,” Emma Jones, the managing director of Solid8 Consulting Ltd., said.
“Whilst I appreciate that people are understandably outraged and want to express their views by what they have seen on video of a CEO from a company with a similar name, we are NOT associated or affiliated in any way with HIS company in the USA.”
Fox News' James Rogers contributed to this report.
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