The CEO of a San Francisco-based technology company who was seen in a viral video making racist remarks against an Asian-American family has resigned from his company. In the video, which was posted last week by Jordan Chan on Instagram, Lofthouse calls the group “Asian pieces of sh–,” among other vulgarities, at the Lucia Restaurant at the Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley.
“This is the face of the man who relentlessly harassed my family and I completely UNPROVOKED, UNWARRANTED, and UNCONSCIONABLE,” Chan wrote in her Instagram post. In an email to CNN, Michael Lofthouse said, “I can confirm that I have stepped down from Solid8, terminating all business relationships with immediate effect.” The CEO added, “I will make it my duty to ensure my personal actions do not continue to have a detrimental impact on those people closest to me.”
Chan said she and her family were celebrating her aunt’s birthday on July 4 when Lofthouse started yelling and insulting her family with racist remarks such as “F— you Asians,” “Go back to whatever f—ing Asian country you’re from,” and “You don’t belong here.” In the video, a restaurant waitress, identified by CNN affiliate KGO as Gennica Cochran, can be seen stepping in to defend the family and forcefully telling Lofthouse to leave.
Sean Damery, vice president and general manager of the Bernardus Lodge & Spa, said that he was “proud of our staff at Lucia in keeping with Bernardus Lodge’s core values. “This incident was handled swiftly and the diner was escorted off property without further escalation. We provide guests with a safe environment for lodging and dining, and extend our sincere apologies to the guests enjoying a birthday celebration on a holiday weekend,” Darnery added.
Lofthouse said in the statement on Monday that he has “once again begun my journey back to sobriety” as well as enrolled in an anti-racist program. “My comments towards the families involved were racist, hurtful and deeply inappropriate. The reactions to what was said have been deserved and I wholeheartedly acknowledge that I am complicit in a system that enables this behaviour and these broken beliefs to exist but I am dedicated to changing,” Lofthouse said.
He also offered his regrets to the family and the venue. “To the Chan and Orosa families, Gennica Cochran and the Lucia restaurant at Bernardus Lodge please accept my heartfelt and sincere apologies, I hope that the conversations and awareness that this incident has created can act as a catalyst for necessary change. It is my commitment to you to overcome my issues and be part of the solution for an equal and compassionate future,” he wrote.Last week, Lofthouse offered an apology for his racist remarks in a statement released on his company’s Twitter account, calling his behavior in the video “appalling” and stating he “lost control.”
Solid8.io describes itself as a cloud and IT company with fewer than 10 employees, according to its LinkedIn page, and should not be conflated with Solid8 Consulting Ltd. based in the UK. “We are currently receiving huge amounts of emails, calls, and messages from people accusing us of having a CEO that is racist,” said a statement from Emma Jones, Managing Director of the UK-based Solid8 Consulting, Ltd. “This is a case of mistaken identity and we are in no way associated with the business in question. We don’t actually have a CEO, I run and own the company along with my Fiance, Josh.”
