‘I’m a superspreader!’ Anti-masker who says he’s from Florida melts down at Home Depot
A customer had a curse-laden, complete meltdown over the face mask policy at a Home Depot and it was all caught on video.
A Twitter user known for viral videos, Fifty Shades of Whey, shared the clip Sunday and it seems as if the irate man who freaked out in the store shot it himself.
It’s unclear where the store was, but the man mentions Gov. Gavin Newsom, so it is likely in California.
“Anti-masker verbally harasses frontline employees at Home Depot and claims to be a millionaire from Florida who works with the Port Authority in NY/NJ,” says the Fifty Shades caption.
The footage begins with the confrontation already under way: the camera pans to an employee’s name tag that reads, “Raul, Department Supervisor.”
The frustrated customer is ranting that he has a medical exemption; hence, no mask.
“You can come at me all you want, bro,” says Raul, who defers to a different manager who approaches.
“What did I do wrong?” asks the customer. “I work for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey! I don’t know why you’re infringing on my constitutional rights! I work for the government.”
The new manager pleads ignorance.
“I don’t know what happened,” she says, guiding him to follow her.
“I’m exempt! There’s a thing called exemption,” the man says.
The manager tells the customer that if he has an exemption, he can do his shopping maskless, but will receive no customer service.
“Bizarre!” says the man who wonders how he could walk around the store superspreading for “three and a half hours,” but not buy anything. “Welcome to Home Depot! Welcome to America!”
The customer then goes off on the employees, undermining their jobs, telling them his kids are “multimillionaires” who will “never work like these people.”
“The only reason you have a job is I risked my life!” he rants. “I risked my LIFE!”
The video ends with him further going off about how he lives in Florida where it’s “free” and he’s going back to Miami on his “private jet” to live his best life.
In the full NSFW video seen on Instagram, the irate individual screams in the parking lot to no one in particular: “Where’s Newsom with the science?” referring to the governor. “Where’s the hypothesis?”
Then, pretending to cough, the shopper yells: “I’m superspreading! I’m a superspreader!”
Exiting, he delivers a final blow, by complimenting Florida, where he claims to live: “I’m gone! I’m going to spread my non-disease somewhere else! My f---ing state is free! I live in Florida. We’re f---ing free! I’m gonna have a nice life! I’m a multimillionaire, you’re a slave to system... I’m going to get on a private plane. I’m going to fly to f---ing Miami and going to have a f--ing wonderful life.”
In July, Atlanta-based Home Depot issued a statement that all visitors must wear a mask to help mitigate COVID-19 infections.
“We appreciate all of our associates who have been working so hard to serve our customers with the essential products they need throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and we want to thank our customers for their cooperation as we work to protect everyone in our stores,” said Ann-Marie Campbell, executive vice president of stores for The Home Depot.
About that medical exemption the anti masker du jour invoked: The CDC says that children under 2, those with breathing difficulties and anyone unable to physically wear a mask could warrant medical exemptions.
But Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, told ABC News that “masks have no detrimental effects, even in patients with chronic lung disease.”
Even those with COPD or asthma should be able to wear a facial covering without it affecting their oxygen or carbon dioxide levels.
Rizzo added that “cases of exemption are very few and far between,” and “people with supplemental oxygen or compromised respiratory status” should not be out at stores, period.
Margaret Smith, spokeswoman for Home Depot, told the Miami Herald on Monday she was unaware where the video was shot. She did say all stores “continue to follow CDC guidelines,” and that if a customer does not have a mask, one will be supplied.
In the case of medical exemptions, documentation must be shown.
“Our policy is our associates will typically ask documentation to show that they’ll be able to shop as they would,” she said, adding, “These situations can escalate quickly and we want our associates to stay safe.”
The Port Authority is aware of the incident and released a statement saying they are looking into who this person who spurns masks is or if he actually works for the agency.
“We mandate that all our employees adhere to wearing masks and other safety protocols in all our facilities. We expect that all employees follow all state and local mandates with respect to mask wearing and other safety measures,” the spokesperson told New York TV station PIX11 in a statement Monday. “We are looking into whether his claim of being associated with the Port Authority is true, in which case we will take appropriate action.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2021 at 1:25 PM.
