Financial Adviser Who Launched Racist Tirade At Smoothie Shop Is Fired After Going Viral
Featured Image Credit: cjjbreezy/TikTok
James Iannazzo, a Merrill Lynch adviser, was arrested after allegedly throwing a smoothie at a teenage employee.
The abuse began when Iannazzo ordered a smoothie from a Robeks smoothie shop for his son, who is allergic to peanuts.
However, after drinking the smoothie, his son reportedly required hospitalisation and Iannazzo claimed that the staff knew about his peanut allergy. However, employees said that the man had just asked for no peanut butter and hadn't mentioned the allergy.
The financial advisor from Connecticut reportedly called the employee a 'f*cking immigrant' and proceeded to throw a beverage at the worker, with footage from the incident being posted to TikTok.
Officers from the Fairfield Police Department were called to the scene and Iannazzo was charged with a hate crime shortly before 2.30pm on Saturday, January 22.
Taken by one of the workers, footage shows Iannazzo standing behind the counter asking who made the drink, 'I want to speak to the f*cking person who made this drink'.
He then proceeds to shout obscenities at the workers saying 'f*cking stupid, f*cking ignorant high school kids', when they don't tell him who had made the drink.
Iannazzo then proceeds to add 'I wanna speak to the f*cking manager' as the employees try to get him to leave. He then proceeds to call one of the workers a 'f*cking b*tch'.
This is when Iannazzo hurls a smoothie at the worker in question. Despite the worker telling Iannazzo to get out, the dispute continues.
He proceeds to call the worker a 'f*cking immigrant loser', while another employee tells Iannazzo to get out, before calling the police.
A spokesperson from Merrill Lynch spoke about the incident, telling The Post that Iannazzo was fired on Sunday.
A statement from the company said in relation to the incident: 'Our company does not tolerate behavior of this kind. We immediately investigated and have taken action. This individual is no longer employed at our firm'.
Iannazzo turned himself in and issued a statement with regard to his son's anaphylactic shock.
'After he started to drink his smoothie, my son lost the capacity to breathe properly; his lips and face swelled up, and he required an EpiPen shot, but it did not offer him relief. I called 911, my son then went to the bathroom, threw up and fell unconscious to the floor. He threw up again. My wife gave him another EpiPen while I called 911 again', he said.
Iannazzo added that he was 'wrong' and that he 'deeply regret[s]' his actions.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact Stop Hate UK by visiting their website
