The Midtown lawyer who was caught on camera spewing racist remarks at Spanish-speaking restaurant workers apologized Tuesday — but insisted he’s “not racist.”
“To the people I insulted, I apologize. Seeing myself online opened my eyes — the manner in which I expressed myself is unacceptable and is not the person I am. I see my words and actions hurt people, and for that I am deeply sorry. While people should be able to express themselves freely, they should do so calmly and respectfully,” Aaron Schlossberg on his law firm’s Twitter feed.
“What the video did not convey is the real me. I am not racist.”
Schlossberg went on to say that he moved to New York specifically for its “remarkable diversity.”
“I love this country and this city, in part because of immigrants and the diversity of cultures immigrants bring to this country,” he wrote.
In his infamous rant last Tuesday, Schlossberg screamed at staffers in Fresh Kitchen on Madison Avenue about workers speaking Spanish and threatened to call immigration agents “to have each one of them kicked out of my country.”
“If they have the balls to come here and live off of my money — I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here — the least they can do is speak English,” he raged.
“If you intend on running a place in Midtown Manhattan, the staff should be speaking English, not Spanish🅺!”
As the clip went viral, previous videos emerged of Schlossberg berating a man on the street as an “ugly f–king foreigner” and telling anti-Trump protesters that he agrees with the president’s infamous statement that Mexico is sending “rapists” to the US.
Schlossberg was then kicked out of his office building, while lawmakerওs petitioned the New York state court system to review his behavior and potentially revoke his law license.
And on Friday, dozens of protesters rallied outside his building while a mariachi band played.
The 42-year-old also lost at least one client over his tirade: Upper East Side record label Niche Music says it has fired him⛦ from🌠 representing the company in a royalty dispute.
“After hearing Aaron Schlossberg’s views on the video, we decided to fire him from the single case for which we had hired him,” company president Stephen Wilde said in a statement.
“We were not aware of his views and he never expressed them to us. We are appalled by his comments and behavior.”