San Francisco tech CEO behind racist tirade at Asian family resigns
San Francisco tech CEO steps down from company and enrolls in ‘anti-racist program’ after vicious tirade against Asian family – as waitress who kicked him out receives over $97K in tips online
- British CEO Michael Lofthouse, 37, has stepped down as head of San Francisco- based company Solid8 following his racist rant at an Asian family
- On Saturday he revealed he will enroll in an anti-racist program immediately
- He issued a second apology to Chan and Orosa families, after they said his initial one was insincere, saying: ‘It is my commitment to you to overcome my issues’
- ‘I have once again begun my journey back to sobriety and have enrolled in an anti-racist program with immediate effect,’ Lofthouse said in his statement
- Gennica Cochran, the restaurant server who kicked Lofthouse out, has received over $97,000 in tips from three GoFundMe pages
- Lofthouse’s mother says he’s suffered from addiction issues for some time
By Marlene Lenthang For Dailymail.com
Published: 08:54 EDT, 12 July 2020 | Updated: 12:16 EDT, 12 July 2020
The British CEO who was caught on video hurling racist abuse at an Asian family at a California restaurant has resigned and cut all business ties with his San Francisco-based tech company Solid8.
Michael Lofthouse, 37, explained that he resigned from his position following his racist tirade where he said ‘you f***ing Asian piece of s**t’ at Jordan Chan and her family celebrating a birthday at Bernardus Lodge and Spa’s Lucia restaurant in Carmel Valley on July 4.
He revealed he will enroll in an anti-racist program ‘with immediate effect’.
‘It is with regret that my initial statement and apology did not go far enough in addressing my behavior in Carmel last weekend and the steps that I need to take. I can confirm that I have stepped down from Solid8, terminating all business relationships with immediate effect,’ he said.
Michael Lofthouse, the British founder of tech company Solid8, issued a statement Saturday saying he has resigned as CEO and cut all business times with the company. He also said he’d enroll in an anti-racist program immediately after he was caught on video (left) hurling racist abuse at an Asian family in a California restaurant
Jordan Chan (back left) posted the footage on Instagram. The family were celebrating the birthday of Jenny’s aunt Mari Orosa (back right with Mari’s husband Raymond front right) on July 4 at Bernardus Lodge and Spa’s Lucia restaurant in Carmel Valley when Lofthouse attacked them with racist comments
He said he stepped down to prevent ‘dentrimental impact on those people closest to me’ – particularly his co-workers at his cloud tech services firm.
‘I have once again begun my journey back to sobriety and have enrolled in an anti-racist program with immediate effect,’ Lofthouse said in a statment to Fox News on Saturday.
‘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 behavior and these broken beliefs to exist but I am dedicated to changing,’ he added.
He pleaded for the Chan and Orosa families to accept his apology.
‘To the Chan and Orosa families, Gennica Cochran and the restaurant Bernardus 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,’ he said.
‘It is my commitment to you to overcome my issues and be part of the solution for an equal and compassionate future.’
Restaurant server Gennica Cochran has received over 97,000 in tips from three GoFundMe accounts from people around the world who have been left heartened after they saw her stand up to a racially abusive man inside her restaurant. This fundraiser raised over $76,000 alone
Cochran told KGO-TV that the money will allow her to pursue yoga teaching. She is also trying to devise a way to send some of the money on to others in the service industry
This is the second time Lofthouse has shared an apology to the families after he slung his vicious comments at them as they were celebrating a birthday.
‘Racist’ boss’s tech firm
Lofthouse’s Solid8 is a cloud tech services firm launched in 2017.
The company’s offices are based near the financial district of San Francisco, California.
Solid8 aims to improve their clients’ computer systems and reduce their IT costs by offering network services, infrastructure or business services that store and access data and programs over the Internet rather than a computer hard drive.
On its website, the company, which also offers cyber security advice, boasts of having ’38 years of collective experience’ and says: ‘Our team are decisive problem-solvers, our breadth and depth of experience means we’ve dealt with most situations before – which means we move quickly from analysis to action, working as an agile team for each project, quickly drawing upon talent from across our global network of over 100 leading Cloud Providers.’
Solid8’s CEO is Briton Michael Lofthouse, who according to his now-deleted LinkedIn page, graduated from Newcastle Business School, associated with Northumbria University, in 2005 and emigrated to America in 2010.
But Raymond Orosa, whose wife’s birthday they were out celebrating the day of the incident, says he doesn’t accept Lofthouse’s apology.
‘I think he really meant what he said and what he did. I don’t believe his words because his actions speak louder than the words he say,’ Orosa said to ABC News.
Orosa said the abuse was ‘full of hate and anger’ but he has still forgiven him.
Jordan Chan posted video of their ugly encounter with Lofthouse last week after he inundated them with derogatory comments as she and her family where celebrating her aunt’s birthday.
‘Trumps gonna f**k you! You f***ers need to leave…f***ing Asian piece of s***,’ he said.
Restaurant server Gennica Cochran intervened in Lofthouse’s rant, kicking him out and escorting out of the restaurant.
After Lofthouse started to hurl his abuse she shouted, ‘You do not talk to a guest like that, you need to leave now…They are valued guests.’
She’s been hailed an ‘everyday hero’ and has raised over $97,000 in tips from people around the worled commending her stepping up to defend the Chan and Orosa families.
One page set-up to tip Cochran is titled ‘A Big Tip for an Everyday Hero‘, and has already raised $76,800.
Two other GoFundMe accounts have raised an additional $21,000 collectively – and the money is still pouring in.
Even the mother of the British tech CEO has been left ‘totally apalled’ by his behavior, revealing he’s been suffering from addiction issues for some time.
‘We are completely devastated and appalled by his behavior,’ Linda Lofthouse, from rural Northumberland, said to MailOnline.
‘All I want to say is that we apologise unreservedly to the family and to anyone else it has offended.’
Even Linda Lofthouse, the mother of the British tech CEO, has been left ‘totally apalled’ by his behavior, revealing he’s been suffering from addiction issues for some time
Lofthouse said her other son, Richard, whose wife Susanna (above) is of Asian descent, had contacted the Chan family to apologise. ‘We are completely devastated and appalled by his behaviour,’ she told MailOnline’
Mrs Lofthouse said her son had been suffering from addiction issues and she was distraught at the thought anyone would consider her family racist.
‘We are in a dreadful situation. He is very sick – if he had cancer people would understand better but he hasn’t, he has an addiction problem.
‘It’s just disastrous, we have been dealing with this for a long time.
Mrs Lofthouse went on to say her other son, Richard, whose wife Susanna is of Asian descent, had contacted the Chan family direct.
She said: ‘We have apologized to the family, my son has had a reply from them and they understand that we have absolutely no control over what he does. He has massive issues.’
