An Arizona CEO was forced to step down from his position after surveillance video captured him calling his Uber driver a racial slur.
It all started when Hans Berglund, former CEO of Tempe fertilizer company, Agroplasma, insisted on sitting in the front seat next to his driver when he was picked up, as reported on CNN.
Randy Clarke, an Arizona State University student, asked Berglund to sit in the back.
Clarke, who has been an Uber driver for four years said he hasn’t allowed riders to sit in the front with him alone after he was groped in 2018 by a drunk rider.
After rejecting his request again, Berglund told Clarke to cancel the ride and stated that he would order a new one. Clarke agreed but Berglund slammed the door and got in the backseat instead.
What Berglund didn’t know at the time was that Clarke installed two video cameras in his vehicle, which captured the entire incident.
In the video obtained by CNN, you can hear the exchange:
“Are you f**king serious with me?” Berglund asked.
“No, I don’t like it when people sit in the front period. I will cancel it and refund,” Clarke replied.
Berglund told Clarke that he was going to ride in the back and file a complaint with Uber later. When Clarke asked him to get out of his, Berglund asked, “Is this because I’m white?”
“No, sir,” Clarke says.
Berglund responds, “You’re a f**king n****r.” You’re f**king unbelievable.”
Clarke filed a complaint with Uber about the passenger’s behavior. A spokesperson from Uber said that Berglund no longer has access to the app.
As far as Berglund, his attorney Scott Zwillinger told CNN that the actions witnessed on the video “are extremely out of character for him.”
He added that Berglund “is extremely apologetic and embarrassed and wants to do everything he can to make this as right as he can.”