A Minnesota white man who harassed a group of black businessmen about being tenants in a building has lost his office and business partners after the incident went viral on social media.
In the video, Minnesota white man Tom Austin, could be heard saying he was going to call 911 on the group of five men when he found them using the building’s gym. Instead, he called the building’s property manager, the Star Tribune reported.
The video was posted on social media and branding agency, Top Figure, on Tuesday and it quickly went viral. The company being a member of the WeWork co-working space in the building.
“We are sick and tired of tolerating this type of behavior on a day-to-day basis, and we feel that we had to bring light onto this situation,” Top Figure said on Instagram.
Austin confirmed Wednesday that he lost the lease for his company, F2 Group, at Ackerberg Group’s building in Minneapolis.
“Should have handled it differently,” he said in an e-mail. “Not my job to have done anything.”
The video shows the men telling Austin that they are tenants. But Austin demands the name of office in which they work. When the group declines to tell him, Austin responds: “I’m calling 911 then.”
Austin said he was suspicious of the men being tenants because one person used their key fob for others in the group.
Austin insisted he was not being racist.
