Lawyer Who Threatened Spanish-Speaking Workers Faces Backlash

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — An attorney whose racist outburst against Spanish-speaking cafe workers went viral is facing a stiff backlash and condemnation from his fellow New Yorkers.

Hundreds of people have taken sites such as Yelp and Google to leave negative reviews for lawyer Aaron Schlossberg, whose law practice is located on Madison Avenue in Midtown. Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who represents parts of Harlem and Uptown Manhattan, announced Wednesday that his office filed a formal legal grievance against Schlossberg with the New York state's court system.

But perhaps worst of all — for a guy like Schlossberg — is that New Yorkers have raised more than $1,000 on GoFundMe to surprise him with a Mariachi show at his law practice's office building.

"We are requesting the band to sing the famous, endearing, and warm Spanish children song, La Cucaracha, the cockroach," the organizer of the GoFundMe campaign wrote. "We are countering hate and racism with the sound of music."

The Midtown attorney became New York City's public enemy No. 1 when a video of him berating employees and customers at Midtown's Fresh Kitchen for conversing in Spanish went viral early Wednesday. A video of the outburst was posted to Facebook by a man named Edward Suazo, who said his wife and best friend recorded the hateful display.

"Your staff is speaking Spanish to customers when they should be speaking English," the man is seen telling a manager at the eatery.

When the manager tries to diffuse the situation by saying that sometimes his staff speaks Spanish to customers, the man begins pointing out people he heard speaking Spanish. Several customers eventually begin to heckle the man, which sets him off further.

As he appears to be leaving the business, the man turns around and claims that he's going to call ICE and get the workers deported.

"My guess is they're not documented, so my next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country," the man says. "They have the balls to come here and live off of my money? I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to be here. The least they could do, the least they could do is speak English."

Watch the full video below:

Despite the lawyer's recent infamy, he was back at his normal routine Thursday, according to a number of reports. In the morning, he squared off with reporters who were awaiting him at his West 60th Street home. At one point, he called the police on a Daily News photographer, the newspaper reported.

Schlossberg was later confronted at a courthouse in Queens by Pix11 reporter Andrew Ramos. When Ramos asks if Schlossberg has anything to say about the viral video he slinks away into a courtroom.

Patch's messages to Schlossberg were not immediately returned.

Lead photo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement