Michael Lofthouse, the CEO of the local tech startup Solid8 who was filmed yelling anti-Asian expletives at a dining family in Carmel Valley last weekend, has officially resigned due to growing backlash over his atrocious behavior.
According to a Fox Business report, Lofthouse officially left his post at the cloud computing firm — which has a terribly pixelated thumbnail image on their Linkedin page — this weekend after receiving a deluge of criticism.
"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, " he told Fox Business. "I can confirm that I have stepped down from Solid8, terminating all business relationships with immediate effect."
Over the 4th of July weekend, Lofthouse was filmed yelling “Trump’s gonna f*** you” and “You Asian piece of s***” at an Asian family macerating at the Monterey eatery Lucia Bar & Restaurant. The video was shared thousands of times across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with the original post now garnering north of 14,000 comments.
Lofthouse has since deleted all of his social media accounts.
*Warning: the below video is, as we've said before, terrible — "like, police text message bad."
"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," Lofthouse continued in his resignation-turned-second-apology. "I have once again begun my journey back to sobriety and have enrolled in an anti-racist program with immediate effect. My comments towards the families involved were racist, hurtful, and deeply inappropriate."
He waxes on: "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."
Alas, this all comes off as a very Sure, Jan attempt at saving face. And bolstering any chance of having a career now.
This latest incident joins a growing catalog of social media evidence of racism directed toward Asian Americans, worsened by President Trump's megaphoned ant-Asian language — "China Virus," "Kung Flu" — and unjust prejudices enveloping the pandemic. We've seen such episodes of ant-Asian racism play out locally; on a state level, over 800 hate crimes against Asian Americans have been reported since COVID-19 entered our collective lexicons; and thousands more of them have taken place across the nation since the pandemic began.
Those who witness a hate crime taking place (or have seen one prior) in SF can report it by calling the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office hate crime hotline at (415) 551-9595.
Related: SF 'Karen' Filmed Confronting Pacific Heights Man Over Writing 'Black Lives Matter' on His Property
Update: SF Tech CEO Outed as Culprit in Racist Viral Video Rant; He Issues Lazy Apology
Image: Screen shot via @jordanlizchan on Instagram
