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A liquor store owner has risen to infamy after he was recorded yelling racist slurs at a customer. Doug Marcus, a Towson Wines and Spirits liquor shop owner, is under fire for hurling the n-word at Shaka Pitts, a communications associate for Baltimore County. The conflict arose when Pitts questioned Marcus regarding the treatment of customers.
Disclaimer: This article contains information about racist behavior that may be disturbing to some. Readers' discretion is advised.
The video, originally posted on Facebook by Shaka Pitts on June 16, went viral as it got reposted on multiple social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and the r/PublicFreakout subreddit. Under the Reddit post, users lambasted the man for the outright racist behavior and stated that there was no chance that the owner could sell his liquor in peace anymore.
In the recording posted online, Shaka Pitts could be seen recording the outside of the store and advising people to not shop at the "racist a*s spot". He points the camera at Doug who was working behind the counter through the glass and said:
"This dude is a racist. Don't shop here. Racist a*s. Every time I come here he has a attitude and he's racist"
Pitts proceeds to open the door and record Doug Marcus. Doug looks at Pitts and says:
"F**k you n****r. Got that?"
Pitts then leaves the store by stating:
"I got that. Thank you, that's what I needed sir."
Netizens call out store owner's racist behavior as Yelp reviews crash
Netizens on multiple social media platforms were enraged at the store owner's behavior. Towson Wines and Spirits Inc.'s Yelp page was review-bombed so hard that Yelp had to shut down further reviews due to the massive influx of netizens calling out the owner.
In the r/PublicFreakout subreddit, people stated that the store owner probably still lived in the past and that he was never going to change for anybody.
On Twitter, the recording was re-posted by the popular Twitter account @detectfights and amassed over 450,000 views. Under this post, Twitter users condemned the liquor store owner's behavior and encouraged people to shop elsewhere.
However, a lot of Twitter users defended the store owner's behavior by stating that every story had two sides. Users suspected the cameraman's behavior and questioned why he kept shopping at the place.
Under the Instagram re-post of the video, posted by murder_ink_bmore, the comments were mostly split between people who knew the store owner and said that he was a good man and the people that called him out for being racist.
Doug Marcus apologizes to Shaka Pitts
In an interview with AFRO News, Shaka Pitts stated that it was his second visit to the store, adding that the environment as unwelcoming. Pitts got a pack of pistachios and Doug simply kept his open hand on the counter for "three dollars". Pitts wanted to pay via phone but Doug remained unresponsive to his inquiries, which Shaka Pitts stated to be disrespectful. He told AFRO News:
“Don’t just hold your hand out and [refuse] to speak to me while I’m patronizing your establishment. I felt disrespected as a person.”
After manually scanning and paying for his item himself, Pitts called out Doug for being disrespectful but he was interrupted.
"I’m talking to him and I said, ‘Brother that’s not—’ and as soon as I said the word, ‘brother,’ he said, ‘I’m not your brother,’” he said.
He then added:
“I’m old enough to know that when a White man is offended by ‘brother,’ nine times out of 10– he’s a racist.”
This prompted Shaka Pitts to take out his phone and start recording. This confrontation resulted in the incident shown in the video.
Doug Marcus responded to Shaka Pitts' Facebook post on June 16 by stating that he was sorry.
Doug accepted that he was wrong and claimed that he wanted to apologize in person.
