![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sprudge.com\/file\/2018\/05\/dukie-2-150x150.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sprudge.com\/file\/2018\/05\/dukie-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
At Joe Van Gogh<\/a> on the campus of Duke University, the university\u2019s Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta\u00a0stopped into the local JVG last Friday, heard a rap song playing, and according to Indy Week<\/a>, did the completely reasonable thing of getting multiple people working at the coffee shop that day fired.<\/p>\n As per Indy Week, Moneta is said to have stopped by the cafe during the mid-day rush to get his usual order of hot tea and a vegan muffin<\/strong>. While suffering the indignity of waiting in line, Moneta heard the musical stylings of one Young Dolph. The song, \u201cGet Paid<\/a>,\u201d was part of a Spotify playlist chosen that day by Britni Brown, a barista who had been with Joe Van Gogh for 18 months and was at the time of the working the register. To be clear, \u201cGet Paid\u201d is by no means a hymnal; there are n-words, f-bombs, and hard b\u2019s aplenty. It\u2019s a real pearl-clutcher for the pearl-clutching types.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the song, if you want to hear what all the hullaballoo is about. In case there are any other Duke VPs of Student Affairs out there who may find this distasteful and try to get me fired, let me be clear, there\u2019s bad language ahead (and probably some mean jokes), so please don\u2019t read any further.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n When Moneta got to the counter, according to Indy Week, he, \u201ca white man, told Brown, an African-American woman, that the song was inappropriate.\u201d Brown states that she stopped the song, apologized for the offense, and offered Moneta his unflavored ice milk free of charge. Moneta insisted on paying (total power move\u2014look at this guy, with his $4 he can throw around willy-nilly), which he did and then left.<\/p>\n The exchange between Moneta and Brown as described by Kevin Simmons, another Joe Van Gogh barista working the espresso machine that day, as \u201cverbally harassing.\u201d This is where the story probably should end: a grown-up hears grown-up words they don\u2019t like, feels compelled to make sure everyone knows about it and then leaves. But\u2026<\/p>\n On Monday morning, Brown and Simmons were called into Joe Van Gogh\u2019s Hillsborough office and asked to resign.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Indy Week obtained an audio recording of that meeting:<\/p>\n Wiley cleared her throat. \u201cDuke University has instructed us to terminate the employees that were working that day,\u201d she said.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n A manager at that same Joe Van Gogh location states that initially they were to just terminate Brown\u2019s contract but later word came down to let go of Simmons\u2014who had no say in what music was played\u2014as well. In the audio recording from the meeting, Brown believes the firing of Simmons is to \u201ccover it up as to make it not look discriminatory for firing a person of color.\u201d<\/p>\n In an email to the Duke Chronicle<\/a>, Moneta, clearly still shaken up by the curses\u2014but not nearly as distraught about hate speech<\/a>, per Indy Week\u2014states that he was shocked<\/strong> to hear such language in his coffee shop, and that after expressing his displeasure with the staff he their boss Coffey to continue to express more displeasure, but \u201cthat was the end of [his] involvement.\u201d In the same email he also stated that \u201cHow [Joe Van Gogh] responded to the employees\u2019 behavior was solely at their discretion,\u201d which contradicts what representatives of Joe Van Gogh stated in the audio recording and also doesn\u2019t seem like the sort of thing you would know if your involvement actually<\/em> ended after expressing your horror.<\/p>\n Just remember, in 2018 we live in a world where the same person who tweets this:<\/strong><\/p>\n To those who believe that colleges and universities should prohibit hate speech, I encourage you to read this: https:\/\/t.co\/dB5FfezKUZ<\/a><\/p>\n Freedom of expression protects the oppressed far more than the oppressors.<\/p>\n — Larry Moneta (@Dukestuaff) April 27, 2018<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n …will get you fired for listening to Young Dolph.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As of publishing, Brown and Simmons\u2014neither of whom have had any prior reports of misconduct\u2014are still out of jobs. Mr. Moneta is believed to be making a full recovery from the rap music-induced wounds\u00a0to his ears, heart, and soul;\u00a0his twitter account may not be so lucky<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zac Cadwalader<\/a>\u00a0is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas.\u00a0Read more Zac Cadwalader\u00a0on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n *image of Joe Van Gogh via Sam0hsong on Flickr<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Two Baristas At Duke University Cafe Fired Over Rap Song<\/a> appeared first on Sprudge<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: Coffee News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Joe Van Gogh on the campus of Duke University, the university\u2019s Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta\u00a0stopped into the local JVG last Friday, heard a rap song playing,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,41],"tags":[63,45,65,47,61,49,59,67,55,57],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecurbkaimuki.com\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nLess than ten minutes later, Brown claims she received a call from Robbie Roberts, the owner of Joe Van Gogh. He said that [Robert] Coffey, the director of dining services [at Duke], which oversees this Joe Van Gogh location, had just called him. Roberts asked her about the incident. According to Brown, she explained what happened, took full responsibility, and apologized again\u2026<\/p>\n\n\u201cWe had gotten a call from Robert Coffey of Duke saying that the VP of the university had come into the shop and that there was vulgar music playing,\u201d Wiley said, according to the recording. \u201cJoe Van Gogh is contracted by Duke University, so we essentially work for them. And they can shut us down at any point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n