After five days of controversy and issuing a denial, the employee of Nick’s in the Stick’s accused of using the N-word in a viral video over the weekend admitted on Wednesday that he used the “reprehensible” slur to refer to Black customers.
“I made a statement to a white customer of the restaurant referring to African American customers who were present as the N-word,” Jack Moltz, whose wife owns the popular Tuscaloosa restaurant, said in a prepared statement.
“There is no place for any person to use the N-word,” he continued. “There is no excuse or justification that can be made for my characterization nor the hurt it has caused.”
The video did not show Moltz using the slur, but the white customer he was talking to accused him of using the N-word to refer to Black customers the white customer was about to sit with. The white customer was at the restaurant celebrating one of the Black customers’ 22nd birthday.
“You messed up, man,” the white customer says in the viral video.
Moltz initially denied using the word, calling the accusation “bullshit” to the Tuscaloosa Thread.
On Wednesday, Moltz said he accepts “all the condemnation and criticism which I have evoked, all of which is justified towards me.
“I sincerely apologize to the African Americans who were present at the restaurant that night, and specifically apologize to the young man who was having his 22nd birthday,” he said.
He also apologized to the employees of the restaurant — officially known as Nick’s Original Filet House — and “sincerely” apologized “to the African American people.”
He said he would personally say he is sorry “to each customer who was present at the time and who is willing to meet with me.”
He also apologized “to all the people of the community for my reprehensible use of the N-word,” and to “the Tuscaloosa police who was dispatched to the restaurant.
“I will live with the shame and hope that in someday I can be forgiven,” Moltz said. “My conduct is not representative of Nick’s in the Sticks’ practice or policies.
“In this day of social media, I would ask that the attention being given to this situation be focused on me and not that of my family and friends as has in the past,” he added.
