NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Orlando Ortega posted a Facebook video of his now-former co-worker, Eileen Marcinkowski, calling him the N-word Sunday. The video has more than 150,000 views.
But the owner of the restaurant where the incident took place said the video doesn't tell the whole story.
“The lady in the video he actually did hit. She had blood on her face, she was bleeding," said Jane Thursfield, owner of Cactus Jack.
Thursfield said Ortega provoked the fight when he punched Marcinkowski in the face after he was let go by the restaurant. Scripps station WFTX in Fort Myers could see no evidence of blood on Marcinkowski's face in the Facebook video.
The owner said even if Marcinkowski was provoked, the racial comments were not OK.
“No, no, of course not," Thursfield said. "No, we don’t condone that at all.”
Other customers, like Johnny Samz, who said he regularly eats at Cactus Jack, agreed.
“I don’t think it’s ever good, for anybody to use the N-word," said Samz. "I don’t care what the circumstances are.”
WFTX's Jasmine Minor asked since Ortego no longer worked at the restaurant, if Marcinkowski would face the same fate.
“She is still working here, yeah," said Thursfield. "I have not been here long and she’s working, but we will obviously address that.”
The owner said the incident took place "off-the-clock" and "off business property." She still plans on addressing the issue with her entire staff.
Ortega conducted a Facebook live, Sunday night, where he said he "absolutely did not provoke anything" and said he plans on filing a discriminatory lawsuit.
