Maryland man accuses Chick-fil-A of racism after receiving his order with ‘offensive’ name on it: ‘Your heart has…’

Marquise Vanzego has accused his local Chick-fil-A of racism, alleging that his to-go order had an “offensive” name on it.

A Maryland man has accused his local Chick-fil-A of racism, alleging that his to-go order had the name “Monkeys” on it. Marquise Vanzego told TODAY that he went through the drive-thru in LaPlata on August 23, and ordered chicken strips, fries and an iced tea/lemonade drink.

Maryland man Marquise Vanzego accuses Chick-fil-A of racism after receiving his order with ‘offensive’ name on it (@dcmetrocarpentry/Instagram)

While calling out an order for Marquise, the employee allegedly said “Monkeys.” “Your heart has that little sting in it, that’s what it felt like,” Marquise said. “You start to think about all the other incidents that may have occurred that you heard about on the news with racial profiling.”

When Marquise spoke with the on-duty manager, the person apologised and offered a refund for his order. In a video of the conversation shared to Instagram, Marquise told the manager, “I’m going to write a letter to corporate about this, this is very offensive.”

‘There are consequences when you do things like that’

Marquise claimed that he placed the order directly with a “young white male” who stood outside the store, taking orders. The store owner, John Flatley, told Marquise that the employee would not be terminated as they were under 18 years of age. Marquise was told that the employee had just written down the name they heard.

“This Chick-fil-A is independently franchised and operated. The franchisee of this restaurant has apologized to the guest,” Chick-fil-A’s corporate marketing department said in a statement. “However, this experience does not meet our expectations and is unacceptable.”

Marquise said he hoped the employee is going to become more “socially aware” after what happened. “I believe that he should be held accountable for what he’s done,” Vanzego said.

“I understand, he’s a young man, he’s 17, he’s still learning. But he also needs to know that there are consequences when you do things like that,” he added.