Walmart condemned a woman who was caught on video of a customer yelling slurs at a Latina woman in one of its stores, saying it has “no tolerance” for such behavior.
Eva Hicks, the woman who posted the video, said she was trying to get medicine from the pharmacy aisle at a Walmart located in Centerton, Ark., when the woman she was attempting to pass started yelling at her. The video, posted to Hicks’ Facebook on Monday, had more than 2 million views by Tuesday afternoon.
“Go back wherever you’re from,” the woman in the video said. When a bystander interjected to tell the woman to “stop being ignorant,” the woman called her the N-word.
The conflict between the customers went on for about 3 minutes, with Hicks expressing shock throughout at the way the woman was speaking to her. Eventually, an assistant manager at the store, who said his name was Wes, intervened, telling the woman, “She has every right to be here as you do.”
“I never in my life thought this would happen to me,” Hicks wrote on Facebook. “Just on a simple trip to the grocery store after a hard day of work. I love this country and I will stay in this country.”
The video gained further traction after New York Daily News writer Shaun King shared it on Twitter, calling for Walmart to ban the woman from the store. Walmart responded on Tuesday afternoon, saying it has “value and respect” for all of its customers and it is “continuing to look into the matter.”
@ShaunKing, we agree that this cannot be tolerated and are continuing to look into the matter. Below is our official statement: pic.twitter.com/BkKKVDrjE6
— Walmart Inc. (@WalmartInc) May 23, 2017
“We have no tolerance for the language or actions of this customer and are proud that our assistant manager responded appropriately by asking her to leave the store,” Walmart said in a statement.