Video of man shouting racist insults spurs online support for Saskatoon restaurant

A video of two men refusing to wear facemasks and one of them screaming racist insults inside a Vietnamese restaurant is renewing calls to end discrimination while spurring a wave of support.

Minji Kang was working a normal evening shift at Mai’s Kitchen when two men came in to eat at roughly 7 p.m.

Since neither of them was wearing a mask, Kang said she wouldn’t be allowed to serve them until they donned their facemasks.

Instantly, one of the men became angry and started arguing.

“He became very violent with me — like speaking violently. I got scared and went to my co-worker,” Kang said.

“I was scared. I was by myself and I was talking to those two men, and I didn’t know what they were going to say or how they were going to react next.”

With the man shouting louder and getting angrier, Kang was happy to see her manager step in and try to calm him.

That’s when Kang went to the counter at the back of the restaurant and began to record the rest of the confrontation with her phone. Her mother posted the 30-second video on Facebook roughly four hours later.

At one point in the profanity-filled rant, you can hear the man telling the staff “to go back to China” while using derogatory racist insults.

Before leaving, the man raised his middle fingers and shouting at staff as he exited the building.

“I never experienced something like that,” Kang said. “I never thought this would happen.”

Prior to recording the video, Kang said the man told her he had a doctor’s note which excludes him from public health measures. She added her manager looked at the note and tried to make other accommodations for the pair.

The video has since gone viral around Saskatoon with hundreds of shares and comments showing support for the local restaurant. Kang never imagined the video would be seen by so many people so quickly.

“My co-worker texted me that people were sending flowers,” Kang said. “I’m really thankful for that.”

Hashtags condemning racism and promising takeout orders and future support at Mai’s Kitchen have also been trending online.

While racism isn’t new to Kang, she said seeing it this close has given her a new perspective.

She hopes sharing her experience will stop further incidents in the future.

“Experiencing it myself and witnessing that made me realize that racism is a very serious issue, and I feel terrible for those who have experienced racist comments,” Kang said. “I just wish racism around the world could stop.”