Twitter Comes For Taco Bell After Employee Gets Fired After Wearing Black Lives Matter Face Mask!

UPDATE 3:25 P.M. PST: Taco Bell issued another, more apologetic statement in response to the outrage. The company wrote on its official Twitter page:

“We are deeply upset by the incident that took place in Youngstown, OH. Denzel Skinner should never have been put in this position. We believe the Black Lives Matter movement is a human rights issue and not a political one. We do not tolerate racism or violence against the Black community and we demand inclusivity. We know we still have a long way to go and we will make serious, tangible changes. We have been in conversation with Denzel and our franchises to make sure our actions represent our words. We will hold ourselves accountable.”

Taco Bell is under fire (sauce?) after firing one of its employees for wearing a Black Lives Matter face covering.

According to reports, Denzel Skinner was fired from the fast food chain after 8 years of being a shift leader at a Youngstown, Ohio Taco Bell after he refused to take off his BLM face covering.

Apparently, the employee was told by his boss that he couldn’t wear such a polarizing face mask, but Denzel remained adamant that the company’s policy said nothing about face covers with messages on them: the chain only required that employee face coverings had to be clean.

In a Facebook Live video, Skinner explained he wore the BLM face cover because the surgical masks provided by Taco Bell were inadequate in warm conditions — which was a problem, because he claimed that the air conditioning at the Youngstown location had not been working.

According to Skinner, temperatures swelled in the restaurant and it eventually became extremely difficult to breathe while wearing the mask. So he put on his BLM face covering in support of protesting police brutality following George Floyd’s murder.

After getting reprimanded by his apparently Karen-esque supervisor, Skinner reportedly walked out, and claims that a manager told him he’d get fired if he didn’t return. See part of the incident for yourself (below):

Taco Bell manager firing an employee for supporting BLM :/ #RIPTacoBell pic.twitter.com/pFd6Wn4u2f

— elijah daniel (@elijahdaniel) June 18, 2020

Awful! (And he’s right. The Black Lives Matter movement is NOT “politics”: it’s a fight for Black community’s right to live without fear of unnecessary police brutality. That’s Human Rights 101, y’all.)

In the wake of Denzel’s firing, Taco Bell released a statement, saying that it’s “disappointed” to learn about what happened. The company said:

“[We are]disappointed to learn what took place in Youngstown. We are working with our franchisee that operates this location to understand what happened… While our policies at restaurants do not prohibit Team Members from wearing Black Lives Matter masks, we are working to clarify our mask policy so this doesn’t happen again.”

The company said they’ve apologized to Denzel, and also made it clear that they support the Black Lives Matter movement.

Video: White Celebs Vow To ‘Take Responsibility’ For Racism In Cringey PSA

But, sincere or not, the brand’s apology did little to quell the outrage on social media. Shortly after the news of Denzel’s firing circulated social media, the hashtag #RIPTacoBell started trending, with users leaving comments like:

“#RIPTacoBell that’s so good and super fast…. but why’d it take you 5 days to investigate his wrongful termination? what are you doing for him? why are you still silent but talking to every press outlet lmao @tacobell”

“they really fired a taco bell employee for wearing a black lives matter mask. they called it ‘bringing politics into the building’ our fight for the right to live without fear is NOT politics. F**K TACO BELL #RIPTacoBell #BlackLivesMatter”

“If Taco Bell is going to fire someone for supporting Black Lives Matter then I sure as hell am not going to spend a single dime at Taco Bell. There are plenty of better fast food restaurants in America who support free speech. Are you with me? #RIPTacoBell”

What do U think about this, Perezcious readers?

[Image via YouTube]