Former Farley’s East workers claim owner knew of antisemitic graffiti

A trio of California baristas who got the boot after being filmed blocking a Jewish woman from entering a restroom said Monday that they are being scapegoated — and that the coffee shop’s owners were aware of the antisemitic graffiti in the bathroom for months.

The three workers at Farley’s East in Oakland restated their support of the Palestinian cause in their e-mailed statement while insisting they stand against antisemitism and did not deny the woman entry to the restroom because she is Jewish.

“We condemn the genocide being committed against the people of Gaza, and we stand against the continuous displacement and oppression of the West Bank by the Israeli government,” their statement said.

“We stand against racism and antisemitism in all its forms.”

The former employees blamed their firing on “the unwillingness and refusal of both Farley’s East owners to protect their longtime staff after a ring wing doxxing campaign targeted our fellow coworkers with violence and hatred.”

Now-viral video taken Dec. 3 showed three gleeful employees denying the woman access to the restroom, telling her “Free Palestine” and accusing her of wanting to use the facilities because “Israel loves taking private property and saying it’s their own.”

Before the video was taken, the customer complained about graffiti inside that read “Zionism = fascism,” which the video shows the ex-staffers proudly defending. The staffers now say one of the shop’s owners, Chris Hilliard, had known about the prominently placed graffiti for two months.

The baristas gripe that the customer began “filming staff and other customers without their consent” before she was offered another restroom instead of the graffiti-filled room.

“When it became clear she would not leave until being allowed into the specific restroom with the graffiti, staff allowed her to enter. The customer did not use the restroom, but instead recorded the graffiti on her phone and then left immediately,” the workers’ statement read.

The next day, a different set of staff was asked by another customer whether the graffiti would be cleared, prompting the manager to ask the owners to remove the graffiti to “stop further harassment of staff,” the baristas said.

“It was only when Farley’s was spammed with one-star reviews that Chris Hillyard began gathering information about both incidents,” the staffers charge, adding that no action was taken until after the video went viral.

In addition to accusing the owners of knowing about the graffiti all along, the ex-employees say they failed to support staff during “aggressive harassment and doxxing.”

The cafe’s owners Amy and Chris Hillyard posted on social media Sunday that the employees’ behavior seen on the video berating the customer “was shocking and unacceptable” and that they were since fired because of their actions.

The former staffers have slammed the owners’ response, saying it “justifies the harassment of the staff in the video and places the blame entirely on staff members, despite the fact that Chris Hillyard knew of the graffiti for months and did not act.”

Three additional staffers have resigned as a result of their coworkers’ treatment, the statement claims.

Video of the incident gained more than 2.6 million views when it was posted Tuesday by StopAntisemitism.

Before the three employees were fired, Farley’s issued an apology Thursday after growing outrage from the viral video.

“The staff handled the situation poorly and we apologize for this error and the distress caused to the customer. We’ve taken corrective measures with our staff and removed the offensive graffiti,” the coffee shop said in its initial apology.

“We’re committed to ongoing staff training for a safe and welcoming environment. Thank you for understanding that we are a small business doing our best to operate a community business in a difficult environment.”