Restaurant owner apologizes after saying racial slur during World Cup celebration

[00:00:00]All right, so a video that went viral where a man is seen using a racial slur.

[00:00:05]The man and owner of a local taco restaurant.

[00:00:08]>> Sophia Hernandez joins us live outside of that business with more on this.

[00:00:12]Sophia?

[00:00:14]>> Yeah, Jackie, we are here outside of Taco Rico West Kendall. One of the owners of this specific restaurant was seen in a video that was taken after the World Cup final and what appears to be a conversation about soccer quickly turns into something more.

[00:00:28]>> Only in Dade, right here.

[00:00:29]>> Yep.

[00:00:31]>> A video posted to Only in Dade captured part of the interaction. You see this man talking with a group of Argentina fans after the World Cup final. You then see this woman push the man. Moments later, the man in the green shirt chants while you hear a voice say Moments after that, this man is heard saying a racist remark to the black male.

[00:00:51]>> Oh, you heard that?

[00:00:53]>> All while his partner continually puts her hand over his mouth. This man is the owner of the Taco Rico in West Kendall.

[00:01:00]The couple appears to have deleted all personal and professional social media accounts. Only in Dade posted this subsequent video of the black male being apprehended by Miami Beach police.

[00:01:10]Police telling NBC 6 they briefly detained this streamer known as Mike from Florida.

[00:01:15]>> Not here.

[00:01:15]>> Why?

[00:01:16]>> Not here.

[00:01:16]>> He's known for prank-like videos approaching unsuspecting people and that's what this customer from Taco Rico told us he sees in the video.

[00:01:24]>> The YouTuber or whatever influencer he was was uh kind of like getting people agitated like you know, kind of get a response from them and he did.

[00:01:32]>> Miami Beach police told us that in speaking with both parties and hearing their accounts, officers instructed everyone to end the confrontation.

[00:01:39]Officers further stated they had not yet seen the video of the incident and were unaware that any physical contact had occurred. The owner, Rene Seguini, released a statement this afternoon writing in part, "I used a racist and hurtful slur and there is no excuse for it. I am deeply sorry and I owe a direct apology to the black community who I hurt with my words, along with everyone else who is rightly harmed by my poor actions. That language is wrong. It does not reflect who I want to be, and I take full responsibility for it. The franchise Taco Rico also posted several statements, the latest calling the language indefensible and saying they will be conducting a formal review of the West Kendall location to assess the franchisee's continued fitness to operate under their brand. Other Taco Rico restaurants also chimed in. The one in Cutler Bay posting this statement.

[00:02:25]And the owner of the Taco Rico in Homestead posting a video to social media late Monday night.

[00:02:30]>> It's taken a long time for us to, you know, um, build what we have built on the reviews, and now we're just getting hammered, you know, on the actual reviews on them being negative, you know what I mean? That's something that had nothing to do with us.

[00:02:40]>> Dato Gonzalez says his store opened 2 years ago and has had numerous accolades and positive reviews. And the behavior seen in the viral post is not one he tolerates at his establishment.

[00:02:51]>> Everybody's treated the same. My son and everybody, you know, nobody here's better than anybody. So, um, you know, what happened, um, getting back to that, what happened, you know, at the moment when I saw a video was very disturbing and and, you know, I didn't know how of the situation, how much it was going to blow up, but um, obviously, you know, when things go viral nowadays, you know, it's it's kind of, you know, it's hurting all of us.

[00:03:14]>> And Gonzalez, as well as the other Taco Rico franchisees, want customers to know that the various establishments have different ownership. This one here in West Kendall is the only Taco Rico that is owned by Rene Seguin, and he says that he is committed to anti-racism education and earning back the trust that he has broken.

[00:03:34]Reporting live in West Kendall, Sophia Hernandez, NBC 6 News.