Racist tirade of tech CEO Michael Lofthouse vs Fil-Am family

A white man who was identified as Michael Lofthouse, CEO of San Francisco-based cloud computing company Solid8, was caught on video unleashing a racist tirade against a Filipino American family.

This disgusting, unprovoked attack happened over the Fourth of July weekend. The Orosa and Chan family from Southern California had taken a trip to Carmel Valley. They were celebrating a birthday at a restaurant when this racist started harassing them.

“’We were having fun, playing games and when we were having dessert, suddenly, we hear somebody behind us yelling, ‘You f***ing Asians,’ Raymond Orosa told the Asian Journal.

“On July 4, Orosa, along with his sister-in-law and her two children, was at the Bernardus Lodge and Spa’s Lucia restaurant to celebrate his wife Mari’s special day.”

Annual birthday tradition

I’m trying my best to hold my temper in check while writing this column piece. But Lofthouse’s disgusting behavior isn’t an isolated case. Racists feel empowered. They have always been racists, but now they feel empowered to show this in public. And we have to fight back and show them they cannot get away with their racist behavior.

Thankfully, the Fil-Am family recorded the racist tirade. The video went viral, with celebrities such as Kelly Clarkson and Patton Oswalt sharing the video on Twitter.

The birthday celebration for Raymond’s wife Mari in Carmel is an annual tradition for the Orosa and Chan family. It was Raymond’s niece Jordan Chan who recorded the video and posted it on her Instagram account.

“Raymond’s niece Jordan Chan, recorded what happened next on her cellphone.

“‘Say it again, now, you’re shy,’ said Chan in the video.

“Michael Lofthouse gave the family the finger, then said, ‘Trump’s gonna f— you. You f—— need to leave. You f—— Asian piece of s—-.'”

Thrown out of restaurant

Thankfully, Lofthouse, who, by the way, is British and emigrated to the US, was ordered to leave the restaurant.

“He then turns to the employee asking: ‘Who are these f***ers?’

“When she tells them they are ‘valued guests,’ he retorts: ‘Are they? They are valued guests in America?’

“The worker continues to tell him to leave, adding: ‘You are not allowed here ever again.’

“Ms Chan wrote on Instagram that Lofthouse ‘had a LOT more to say after I stopped recording’ and that he told the family ‘you don’t belong here’.”

What would you do?

The waitress who told Lofthouse to leave the restaurant has been identified as Gennica Cochran.

“The Carmel Valley waitress says she had been watching Lofthouse all night. She wasn’t serving him but had observed him switch tables and send back food multiple times, even be rude to her manager. The final straw was when he began an expletive-laced racist rant directed towards the Orosa Chan family, who had been celebrating a birthday at a nearby table.

“Cochran stepped in shouting, ‘You need to leave right now, get out, you are not allowed here, get out now, you do not talk to our guests like that, they are valued guests, you are not allowed here ever again!’

“‘To hear the emotion coming out of my voice, to see my mannerisms, it was unbelievable it was just something that came over me and I just did what needed to be done,’ Cochran told ABC7 News Reporter Melanie Woodrow. ‘I did what anybody else should or would do in that situation.’

As Cochran said, this is what we should do. We shouldn’t be silent in the face of racism. We should confront racists and tell them their behavior is unacceptable.

And we should be like Chan and record what is happening and let the world know that racism is unacceptable. Do you think Lofthouse would have even given a damn if his racist tirade hadn’t been recorded and gone viral? Which is why no one should accept his stupid excuse for an apology.

It’s the same kind of pro forma apology that people issue when they’re caught doing something on camera.

Racists are never sorry for their racism. They’re only sorry they got caught.