Florida musician Monty Bloom sent several racist text messages to his former colleague, Shasha Zhang, amid the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Zhang shared a series of screenshots through a Facebook post on Sunday, featuring her heated conversation with the musician. Bloom began his unwarranted rant by telling Zhang that he would not hire her again until she surrenders her Chinese passport and renounces her Chinese citizenship.

“Just letting you know that im not hiring you anymore until you surrender your chinese passport and renounce your chinese citizenship,” he wrote. “Thank your loser chinese government for ruining my season and the season for every other musician.”

“No more chinese (are) pure 100% american!!” he added.

Zhang replied to his comment, clarifying that not only is she an American citizen, but she also doesn’t have a Chinese passport. She goes on to write that she is proud of her heritage and that Bloom should be ashamed of himself, to which he simply replied: “F*ck china.”

Bloom goes on to seemingly conspire that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is being used as a bioweapon by the Chinese against Americans, writing: “All Chinese should compensate americans for income post due to their bioweapon coronavirus.”

The post has generated dialogue online, with many users showing their sympathy towards Zhang in the comments. Other users showed their disgust for the racist act, pointing out how this incident may affect the Florida musician’s career in the future.

One commenter even shared a screenshot of her personal interaction with Bloom, where he commented on her Instagram story, writing: “You need a new job that pays you real money so you can get plastic surgery.”

One day after the viral post was shared on March 16, the Florida musician created a now-deleted Facebook apology post. Bloom begins the post by making clear that he was heavily drinking during the day. He publicly apologized to Zhang for his actions, writing that he considers her to be someone he holds in “high esteem” and as “a friend.”

He goes on to describe their fond memories playing together in an electric violin group, The Electrostrings. He also mentions that he has ADHD and an issue with “impulse control,” especially when he consumes alcohol. He ends his apology by stating that he would take a hiatus from Facebook, only to log onto Facebook and delete his apology two hours later.

Feature Image via Facebook