Threatening to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on mixed-race people has become somewhat of a norm for xenophobes or racists all over America. One such incident in North Carolina has gone viral online after a rather xenophobic woman seems to have mistaken Italians in a pizzeria for Mexicans, leading to even more threats and an unpleasant conversation.
Bussin Pizza in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the Italian pizzeria in question. On May 23, the pizzeria shared a clip of the incident on their official TikTok account, where a woman can be seen complaining at the cash register. In the video, the woman can be heard accusing the Italian pizzeria of being “funded/fronted by the cartel” after she seems to have assumed that it was a Mexican establishment.
It appears the pizzeria employees had to reiterate many times that they were not Mexicans and that the restaurant isn’t a Mexican business, but an American-Italian one. However, the woman replied with “I take care of Italians, I know a pure Italian from a Mexican!” and when she saw one of the employees recording from the side, she added another threat, “I should call Homeland Security and ICE here right now! Smile about that and put me on camera!”
It’s not clear what transpired off-camera, but Bussin Pizza had to clarify that it was the first time they’ve seen that particular woman in the North Carolina neighborhood. Moreover, they had to release a statement claiming “Bussin Pizza is funded by the community and hard working staff working 7 days per week to surve our beautiful community no matter what color or race you are!,” especially after they got accused of being a front for the Mexican cartel.
People online are siding with the Italian pizzeria
Bussin Pizza’s video has since gained hundreds of thousands of views online and numerous comments on the matter. Some of the comments, however, pointed out how they were perplexed by the woman’s “racist conspiracy theory” rant. A TikTok commenter also sympathized with the pizzeria’s cashier, who had to deal with the weird incident, which easily could’ve turned into a violent and misguided hate crime. “This is so disheartening. I’m sorry this happened,” according to the TikTok comment.
On the bright side, Bussin Pizza got a bit of a spotlight as some potential customers who live in Raleigh grew curious about the community-funded restaurant. “I mean I never heard it this place until auntie started cussing yall. lol. So imma come try it cause it looks good,” claims one commenter.
Bussin Pizza also reiterated in the video’s caption that they didn’t post the video for hate or drama, and instead, for the support that their employees deserved. Thankfully, it appears the woman didn’t follow through with her threats of calling ICE or Homeland Security on the Italian pizzeria.
