Racist Rant by a New York Lawyer Sparks an Online Outrage
Heeeun Shin
On May 15, a video of a man, later identified as Aaron Schlossberg, 44, verbally abusing several workers of a midtown Manhattan restaurant for speaking Spanish surfaced online and sparked a national outrage. The man berated the Latina women for speaking Spanish, going as far as threatening to call the ICE and have them deported. The video also showed him body shaming a woman filming him, telling her “Maybe you shouldn’t eat that sandwich. Maybe you should take a break from the food”.
Who is Aaron Schlossberg?
According to the website of Aaron Schlossberg’s Law Office, he is a lawyer that focuses on complex commercial and insurance coverage matters. He earned his BA in English from The John Hopkins University and his Juris Doctorate degree from George Washington University Law School. After working as an associate at a couple of law firms, he founded The Law Office of Aaron M. Schlossberg, Esq,. P.L.L.C. in 2012.
His biography also states that as well as being a ‘published author’ and ‘seasoned presenter’, he is ‘fluent in Spanish, conversational in French and has basic knowledge of Mandarin Chinese and Hebrew’.
What was in the video?
The video that went viral on May 15 showed Schlossberg berating several Latina workers of a restaurant named Fresh Kitchen, located in Madison Ave. for speaking Spanish with each other. He threatened to call ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on said employees, and claimed that the Spanish speaking customers and employees, who he assumed were undocumented, were living in “my country” and that the least they can do is speak English because “This is America”.
He also incorrectly asserted that “If they have the balls to come here and live off my money, I pay for their welfare” although undocumented immigrants are ineligible for federal public benefits.
Repercussions
Soon after the video went viral and Aaron Schlossberg’s identity was identified, his law firm’s online reviews were bombarded with 1-stars on Yelp.
A fundraiser was started online by social media furor to send a mariachi band to perform outside of Schlossberg’s office.
Corporate Suites, the company that operates the midtown building where Schlossberg has a part-time office, evicted him with a statement, “Corporate Suites has a diverse and global community of business professionals working in a rich environment with mutual respect. We found Mr. Schlossberg’s statements offensive and contrary to our community norms and have decided to terminate his services agreement with us.”
Congressman Adriano Espaillat from New York’s 13th Congressional District announced via Twitter that he would file a formal legal grievance to the State Grievance Committee against Schlossberg, and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have sent a letter to the disciplinary committee that oversees lawyers in New York state to file a formal complaint against Schlossberg. There also has been an online petition on Change.org to have the acid-tongued attorney officially disbarred, which garnered over 9,000 signatures by Thursday, two days after the video of Schlossberg’s rant was released. But he is likely to only receive a private admonition, according to NYU legal ethics professor Stephen Gillers.
Apology
8 days after the video went viral, Schlossberg released an apology on Twitter, claiming that ‘what the video convey is not the real me’ and that ‘one of the reasons I moved to New York is precisely because of the remarkable diversity offered in this wonderful city. I love this country and this city, in part because of immigrants and the diversity of cultures immigrants bring to this country’.
Following the incident in Manhattan restaurant, a video was released by Willie Morris, a New Yorker, of Schlossberg in 2016, calling Morris an “ugly f***ing foreigner” as well as a video of Schlossberg in May 2017, unleashing a tirade at Jewish supporters of Palestine at a rally, shouting “you are not a Jew” at a rabbi, who he believed was a counter-protester, and flipping his middle finger at the counter protesters while spewing profanity. After garnering negative online infamy, the fact that Schlossberg donated $500 to Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 was also released on OpenSecrets.org.
Looking at Schlossberg’s trend of racist and discriminating behaviors, the public remains skeptical and irate as more videos of Schlossberg’s racist actions from the past resurfaced following the initial incident at the Manhattan restaurant. Willie Morris, a New Yorker who posted a video of Schlossberg calling him an “ugly f***ing foreigner” by Schlossberg in 2016, said that Schlossberg, through his apology, appears to be trying to “save face.” “I believe he’s upset he was caught multiple times being racist and that it’s probably been very damaging for him,” Morris told CNN. Morris said Schlossberg will “be more careful about how he acts in public for a while”. Morris suggests that if Schlossberg really wants to show a change of heart, he should do so by providing legal services for immigrants in the city instead of posting blanket apologies on social media.
