US teenager claims restaurant made him wear ‘gaytard’ tag
By Josh Haggis
An American teenager working in his local taco restaurant has claimed that he was forced by his manager to wear a nametag that read “gaytard”.
Tyler Brandt, 16, used to work at a branch of US restaurant franchise Taco John’s in Yankton, South Dakota – and said that he agreed to put on the apparently anti-gay label because he didn’t want to get fired.
“[My manager] pulled me into the office and gave me a name tag that read ‘Gaytard’ on it, and asked me to wear it,” the teenager told South Dakota TV station KELO.
“So I put it on because I didn’t want to upset him, and I felt that if I did do anything to upset him, it would cause me to lose my job because he’d be looking for ways to fire me.”
Brandt eventually quit his job at the restaurant, and is now looking for legal representation. In response to the allegations, Taco John’s company manager John Scott told local newspaper the Yankton Press & Dakotan that “they were all joking around”.
“Everyone has a nickname here, and he wanted a nickname. [Gaytard is] what he picked for a nickname,” he claimed, before adding: “He wasn’t forced to wear the name tag. He asked the manager to make that name tag for him. He didn’t tell him he had to wear it. He put it on himself and created the situation. He said the manager forced him to do it. The manager didn’t force him to do anything.”
Brandt has responded to Scott’s statement, saying: “Do you really think I’d want to go around making a mockery of who I am? It’s really irritating to think someone could believe I would want that label.”
Taco John’s CEO, Jeff Linville, has since issued a statement saying that the company believes everyone should be treated with respect, and that the alleged behaviour is unacceptable.
“We take any accusation of workplace harassment very seriously. The type of discrimination that reportedly took place recently in the Yankton, South Dakota. restaurant is deplorable,” he said.
Watch the full news report below about the alleged incident below:
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