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 over 150,000 views.
But the owner of the restaurant where the incident took place says 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 says Ortega provoked the fight when he punched Marcinkowski in the face after he was let go by the restaurant. Fox 4 could see no evidence of blood on Marcinkowski's face in the Facebook video.
The owner says even if Marcinkowski was provoked, the racial comments were not okay. “No, no. Of course not. No, we don’t condone that at all.”
Other customers, like Johnny Samz, who 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.”
Four in Your Corner'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 says 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 says he "absolutely did not provoke anything" and says he plans on filing a discriminatory lawsuit.
