A Papa John’s delivery driver in Sanford, Florida lost a lot more than his dignity when he “butt-dialed” a customer whose home he had just left: he lost his job. It wasn’t that he accidentally called the customer, it’s what he ended up leaving in the customer’s voicemail box that got him in trouble. The customer, whose name was not given, played the message back, made a video and posted that on YouTube and World Star Hiphop. It didn’t take long for viewers to call both the Papa John’s location and the delivery boy to complain.

The delivery guy, whose first name is Jordan, was doing some world-class racial slurring:

“That’s the only requirement for being a n****r in Sanford. Yeah, they gave me five bucks there. Fine, outstanding African-American gentleman of the community.”

He then goes on to sing the “n-word” to the tune of The Marriage Of Figaro Overture and the S.W.A.T. Theme (and not very well). He continues to chat with a co-worker, the two of them still bitching and making disparaging remarks about the “ni**er” customer, culminating in a ‘joke’ that the customer was “so black, fireflies follow him around in the daytime.” The co-worker was fired as well. Their main complaint – other than the customer’s skin color – seems to be that the tip wasn’t big enough. Five dollars on a $15.26 pizza is about 30% – I grew up in Vegas, I know from good tips. And this was a stellar one, even if the customer’s math is low.

The video was posted Sunday night. As of this writing, it has been viewed over 400,000 times on the two sites where it is posted. There are 191 comments on the YouTube video (update: YT has taken the video down as of 12:15am PST) and almost 6,000 on the Hiphop site, many of which said that they were going to call Papa John’s and/or the driver, both numbers being visible in the video. And sure enough, many complaints went directly to Papa John’s Sanford, FL location. They have received over 300 calls from angry citizens (and a few pranks). The manager of that location, a fellow named Keith, had this to say:

“We were made aware of the video and it’s under investigation. We’re sorry that it happened.”

Perhaps. But Papa John’s is no stranger to racist employees. In January of 2012, an employee at a NYC location was fired for referring to a customer as a “lady chinky eyes.”

When the reporter for The Daily Dot called the driver’s number, the voice-mail box was full, unsurprisingly. This is how the driver’s first name was learned, in the outgoing message. The writer sent a text, instead, which has not been returned. I’m betting that the number for both the Papa John’s location and the driver’s cell phone will be changed very quickly.

Update: John Schnatter, the owner of Papa John’s left the following comment in the Raw Story comments section:

I, too, am extremely appalled by these former employees’ actions and sincerely appreciate it being brought to our attention. The thinking of these people is counter to mine and my company’s values and we will not tolerate it. We immediately terminated those involved and will continue to educate all on our team. I personally have reached out to the customer to share my deepest apology. We thank you for allowing us to correct this horrible situation. Most Sincerely, John Schnatter Founder & CEO

Here’s the video:

T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…