The Holiday Inn Guy has received amazing support from the internet, and Tariq Nasheed is getting roasted.
An outpouring of online support began Monday as video emerged on social media showing a Holiday Inn Express employee having a mental breakdown as he was harassed by an irate guest recording his encounter with the front desk receptionist.
A Holiday Inn employee appeared to hit himself repeatedly in the head before bashing the computer in front of him as a guest angrily chastised the worker for “stealing” his money, changing his reservation. The unnamed Holiday Inn worker in the now-viral video has become the center of a racial debate after it was framed as “white” versus “black” issue by self-proclaimed “race baiter” Tariq Nasheed. The employee framed the situation in a different light, posting on Reddit that he suffers from mental illness, prompting GoFundMe support as well as hundreds of posts offering solidarity.
A GoFundMe page started for the Holiday Inn employee raised more than $35,000 in under 24 hours since the incident was first posted to Twitter. The creator of the GoFundMe page, Jeremy Hambly, blasted the man who recorded the video as someone chasing social media “clout.” The employee claimed the guest called him a homophobic slur.
“A Holiday Inn employee was harassed and filmed by a customer having a mental breakdown & is now receiving death threats & having thoughts of self-harm,” Hambly wrote. “It turns out this employee has BPD with schizo-active tendencies. According To Him. Let’s give him enough of a head start on finding a job where people don’t treat him terrible & he can take a nice little vacation.”