McDonald’s franchisee in Mildura let go following video of altercation with Aboriginal man

A senior Macca’s franchisee has been dumped after a video emerged of a man being questioned on his ethnicity. Warning: Strong language

WARNING — STRONG LANGUAGE

A woman at the centre of an alleged racist rant against an Aboriginal man says she is getting death threats and claimed her accusers stole her cat.

Karen Ridge has spoken out after footage went viral of her and her partner entering the property of artist Robby Wirramanda in Mildura, Victoria and questioning his Aboriginal heritage.

In the video, a woman, who Mr Wirramanda identified as “Karen” can be seen trying to remove an Aboriginal flag from the property and telling him to go and live in a “humpy down by the river”.

Mr Wirramanda tells the couple, thought to be married neighbours, that he is filming and intends for the video to go viral. Nonetheless the pair continue their rant.

In the wake of its release McDonald’s announced it had let go one of its franchisee managers.

McDonald's has parted company with a manager in Mildura, Victoria. Picture: Michaela O’Neill.

A video was uploaded to Twitter by Mr Wirramanda’s adult child on Saturday.

In it, the dad can be heard reacting to the woman unsuccessfully trying to remove an Aboriginal flag from his car.

“You’re trying to rip my flag off; you’re a drunken f***ing bum. You’re a racist pig.”

“I’m not racist.” The woman retorts.

The woman can be heard saying “take this s**t down, it’s a disgrace”.

After she was unable to pull the flag down, Mr Wirramanda said: “It’s too strong for you Karen”. The hashtag #toostrongforyoukaren is now trending on social media.

A woman tries to pull down the Aboriginal flag.

A man in the video argues the extent of his neighbour’s Aboriginality.

“Which 1 per cent of you is Aboriginal,” the man says to Mr Wirramanda.

“There’s nothing in you that is Aboriginal. OK you can do nice paintings but you claim to be Aboriginal? You make me laugh.”

“Because of the colour of my skin?” Mr Wirramanda replies.

“People like you make a mockery of true aboriginals. I have a lot of good Aboriginal friends they would love to see you and give you a lecture about what an aboriginal is,” says the man.

“What’s a true aboriginal? This s**t is going viral. I want to show racists like you to the world,” said Mr Wirramanda.

He then repeatedly bids “Karen” goodnight who says back to him: “Go and live in your f***ing humpy down the river.”

WTF!!!! THIS HAPPENED TO MY PARENTS JUST LAST NIGHT pic.twitter.com/MqFfXgmV3z

— Beautifuldeadly Decolonisation (@toostrong4karen) December 13, 2019

On Sunday, Ms Ridge told the Daily Mail she suspected her neighbours had taken her pet cat.

“There are always two sides to every story and there was a great deal of harassment before this event occurred,” she said.

The Daily Mail reported Ms Ridge as saying she had received death threats since the video was uploaded to social media.

The Wirramanda’s adult child posted a message to Twitter following the altercation where they said the pair had entered the family’s garage, which is used as an artist’s studio, and began the “racist rant”.

“I feel sickened, as does my family. Robby stayed super calm throughout this disgusting racist rant.”

Following the incident, McDonald’s Australia announced that it had parted company with Robert Vigors, a franchisee who ran the Macca’s stores in north east Victoria.

“McDonald’s confirms the company has taken over the operation of the Mildura and Irymple restaurants, effective immediately and Robert Vigors has left the system and is no longer involved,” a spokeswoman said in a statement to news.com.au.

“McDonald’s will be engaging with its employees regarding the change in arrangements, to ensure the ongoing operation of the restaurants.

“The comments made are unacceptable and do not reflect the beliefs of the company as an inclusive workplace for our employees and customers. The matter is currently under investigation.”

Mr Vigours and Karen Ridge are prominent business people in the Sunraysia region of Victoria.