Viral video of racist Macy's manager firing was a “prank”

The claim: A Macy's manager fired an employee for being late, telling her, “We don't respect black people's time.”

An Instagram video (direct link, archive link) from June 16 shows a group standing in an elevator while two people – a manager and an employee – start an argument.

The manager, a white man, tells the employee, a black woman, that she is fired for being late. Although the woman says there was a family emergency and her grandmother died, the manager insists that she exit the elevator and hand over her name tag and work items.

“Yes, we don't work at the expense of blacks. Get out of the elevator,” he says. “This is not the ghetto.”

The caption, apparently written by the former employee, describes the video as “proof that this Macy's manager is a huge racist and I don't have the heart to let him say something like that to me (sic).”

The alleged former employee also posted the video on TikTok and it was shared by others on Facebook and in a viral post on X (formerly Twitter).

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Our rating: False

Macy's confirmed in public statements and a direct statement to USA TODAY that the two people in the video were actors and not affiliated with the company. The woman, who has since been identified, also said in a video that the incident was a prank.

The actress involved in the prank had already made headlines

After the video spread on social media platforms, Macy's responded that the people were not associated with the company.

“This is a stunt. The people featured in the video have no affiliation with Macy's and do not work there,” the company said in an X-post on June 17, writing in a follow-up post that the people were actors.

Julissa Bonfante, a spokeswoman for Macy's, told USA TODAY that the company conducted a thorough investigation and concluded that the incident was “completely fabricated.”

“Macy's and our colleagues were not involved in any way in the video. We find this video racist, divisive and hurtful,” Bonfante said.

The woman who appeared in the video and posted it on Instagram and TikTok is an actress named Zaida Pugh. She posted a follow-up video to her social media accounts on June 20, where she began with an “update” about the incident, but then broke character and confirmed that it was not real.

“Caught! You got pranked,” Pugh says in the video update. “Yes, it's a prank. Macy's didn't lie. Macy's is a great store, I have nothing against Macy's. Please keep shopping there.”

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In 2016, Pugh made headlines for a “social experiment” in which she held a container of live crickets and worms on a subway train. Huff Post reported that a young man slapped the bugs out of her hands, sending them flying and causing passengers to panic. In a comment to CBS News, she said the stunt was meant to show what homeless people go through.

USA TODAY reached out to Pugh for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-checking sources:

• Julissa Bonfante, June 21, email exchange with USA TODAY

• Macy's, June 17, X-Post

• Macy's, June 17, X-Post

• VICE, August 30, 2016, The woman who threw bugs into the subway has some regrets

• queenzaida, June 19, Instagram post

• HuffPost, August 27, 2016, Woman who released crickets on New York train says it was all a ‘prank’

• CBS News, August 27, 2016, Woman who released crickets and worms on subway says it was a social experiment

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Viral video of Macy's manager firing was a 'prank' | Fact Check