One Dairy Queen owner won't be making Blizzards any time soon. The Washington Post reported that James "Jim" Crichton, who owned the DQ in Zion, Illinois, hurled racist insults at customer Deianeira Ford and her two children on Wednesday and, as a result, ultimately lost his store.
Ford, 21, who is biracial, went to the store intending to give her children a treat. However, her order got messed up. When she complained to Crichton, he unleashed a stream of insults, using the N-word liberally.
"He called me and my children nigger; he said I can go back to where I came from," Ford told the Post. "He took out his flip phone and he said he would take a picture and put it on Facebook because he wants to show the world what kind of nigger he has to deal with. Then he shut the window and walked away."
Ford called 911, and the cops investigated. Crichton fessed up quickly, and continued using the slur while talking to the police. But while everyone involved found Crichton to be a terrible human being, he hadn't broken any laws.
So next stop: Facebook. Ford posted about the incident, and it was quickly shared by several thousand people. Dairy Queen eventually responded, apologizing and putting out a statement from Crichton:
"I would like to sincerely and humbly apologize for my recent words and actions," it said. "I have let my family, friends, employees, our system and this community down with what I have done."
By Friday, it was all over. DQ said that they were shutting down the location. A protest planned for Saturday (pictured above) turned into an impromptu party to celebrate the restaurant's closing.
While Ford was happy about the outcome, she's still haunted by her three-year-old daughter's reaction to Crichton's tirade. "She kind of still brings it up—that’s just how she is," she told the Post. "She said, 'Why did that mean man say that to me?'"
