Duke University baristas fired after VP hears 'offensive' Young Dolph song playing in coffee shop
Two baristas at a Duke University coffee shop were fired after a VP from the college heard an "offensive" Young Dolph song playing.
(iStock / YouTube)
Two baristas at a Duke University coffee shop were fired for playing rap music that contained "offensive" lyrics and prompted a school official's complaint.
Britni Brown and Kevin Simmons were working at the campus location of Joe Van Gogh when Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta came into the establishment. When he overheard the song "Get Paid" by Young Dolph, which includes the lyrics “Get paid, young n----, get paid” and “I f----d her so good,” he complained to Brown about the “inappropriate” song, Indy Week reports.
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Brown reportedly apologized and turned off the music then offered Moneta a muffin on the house, though he insisted on paying. Simmons, who overheard the exchange between Brown and Moneta, said Moneta was “verbally harassing” his co-worker.
Shortly after Moneta left the shop, the baristas received a phone call from the store owner, who said Executive Director of Dining Services Robert Coffey had called him about the music.
On Monday morning, Brown and Simmons were called into a meeting with someone from HR who told themthey could either resign or be fired, according to an audio recording of the meeting obtained by Indy Week.
“We had gotten a call from Robert Coffey of Duke saying that the VP of the university had come into the shop and that there was vulgar music playing,” the HR rep, Amanda Wiley said on the recording. “Duke University has instructed us to terminate the employees that were working that day.”
Duke's Vice President for Student Affairs, Larry Moneta, came into the coffee shop and complained about the "inappropriate" lyrics of the Young Dolph song playing.
(Duke University)
Moneta told The Chronicle in an email that while he did complain about the music, he never ordered the employees be fired.
"The employees who chose to play the song in a business establishment on the Duke campus made a poor decision which was conveyed to the JVG management," Moneta wrote. "How they responded to the employees’ behavior was solely at their discretion."
"To those who feel that I’ve flipped on my positions on free expression, I say this. The artist who wrote, recorded and performed the music is absolutely entitled to do so, however offensive I might find the lyrics.”
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"There are other options besides being terminated,” Brown said in the meeting with HR, according to Indy Week. “We could have just been moved to another shop. But Duke came in and took our livelihood.”