A DC police report says the incident is being investigated as a hate crime and simple assault.
WASHINGTON — Uber has banned a D.C. man’s business from its app after a WUSA9 report showed the owner lashing out at a food delivery driver ─ telling him to “learn English.”
The news came Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after WUSA9’s report.
A tense interaction captured on video between a food delivery driver and a DC business owner garnered a lot of attention on social media forums in the area.
In a one-minute video posted Monday on TikTok by delivery driver Gregorio Amundarain, business owner Greg Harris can be heard telling him “Learn English! Learn! You earn money in America. This is—If you earn money America, learn English!”
At one point in the video, Amundarain replies, “It doesn’t speak English,” to which Harris says “I don’t give a f—! Learn it! Learn it!”
Amundarain said he arrived at Harris’ CANNA store in DC’s Adams Morgan neighborhood to pick up the order early Monday morning. The delivery driver said that after waiting a few minutes for an order outside the store, he motioned for Harris to come to him because there was a dog inside the business.
“I was scared because of the dog,” Amundarain said. He explained that the dog barked at him when he first opened the door.
Once inside the store, Amundarain said Harris started taunting her, so she decided to take out her phone to record.
“Learn English! Learn English! Learn English!” Harris is heard speaking before continuing to imitate Spanish.
Amundarain said the business owner lowered his voice as soon as he saw that he was recording.
“This is not your f—in’ country. This is not your f—in’ country. Learn English! Learn English,” Harris is heard saying.
Amundarain says he has been in the US for two years and this is the first time he has encountered such hatred. He says restaurants often understand that not all drivers speak English well, and “if you don’t speak English, you show the phone and get an order.”
In the video, Harris forcibly hands the bag to Amundarain, who proceeds to exit the building saying in the video in Spanish, “He’s swearing at me and I don’t understand what he’s saying to me. It’s that store. It’s that store.”
Uber responded to WUSA9’s report with X saying, “We are outraged by the behavior in this video. Hate has no place on our platform and we have removed this commercial from our app and are working to investigate the welfare of this individual.” courier.”
Uber isn’t the only company taking action. Yelp says their team is looking into CANNA’s account after the business was bombarded with negative reviews. Yelp wrote online, “We have temporarily disabled the ability to post here while we work to investigate the issues. While racism has no place on Yelp and we reject racism or discrimination of any kind, Every review on Yelp must reflect a first-hand customer experience.”
The District Government says it is looking into the Amundarain issue. “Following the recent incident, the Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs awarded Gregorio Amundarain letters to staff development, language services and many local community supports. We remain committed to protect the rights and safety of all members of our community,” Director Eduardo Perdomo said in a statement.
DC Police responded to the scene and on Tuesday said the incident was being investigated as a simple assault and a hate crime. Amundarain says he believes he was meant to be Spanish.
“I’m sad. My mom saw the video.” My mother cried and told me, ‘Son go back to Venezuela because you are being humiliated. Look how you are being treated,'” said Amundarain. The Venezuelan state said he shared this video on his TikTok account because what happened to him is just a glimpse of what transport drivers in the region have to go through.
On Tuesday, WUSA9 tried to talk to Harris at the CANNA location, initially off camera. Outside the store we explained that we wanted to hear his side of what happened yesterday and what made him react.
Harris refused to talk on camera, telling WUSA9 he would only talk if we sent a Black reporter, or if we paid for the interview ─ which WUSA9 did not. He then proceeded to tell our staff that we should teach the transport driver English lessons.
#Hate #place #platform #Uber #shuts #business #WUSA9 #report #owner #yelling #learn #English #delivery #driver