Saltgrass is issuing a new statement regarding a racist note that was reportedly left to an employee in Odessa.
Saltgrass COO Terry Turney issued a statement on Monday saying the note was not true and was fabricated by the employee.
“After further investigation, we have learned that our employee fabricated the entire story. The customer has been contacted and invited back to our restaurant to dine on us. Racism of any form is intolerable, and we will always act swiftly should it occur in any of our establishments. Falsely accusing someone of racism is equaling disturbing,” the statement from Turney reads.
The employee, Khalil Cavil, originally claimed that the customers denied him a tip and left a note, which read, “We don’t tip terrorists.”
“My heart just dropped, I didn’t know what to say or what to think in the moment but there’s hurt there,” Khalil said last week.
The photo of the receipt later went viral on social media, prompting Saltgrass to issue a statement on the matter.
The original statement from Saltgrass supported the employee.
“We stand by and support our employee,” The original statement from Turney read. “Racism of any form is unacceptable and we have banned this customer from returning to our establishment.”
YourBasin.com reached out again to Khalil for his response to the statement from Saltgrass on Monday.
Khalil admitted to writing the message on the receipt and apologized for his role in the story.
In the meantime, Khalil says he is actively working to return all of the funds, which were donated to him following the initial story.
(Information from YourBasin.com)
