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Eileen Marcinkowski: Woman calls co-worker the N-word at North Fort Myers restaurant

Posted at 10:31 PM, Feb 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-26 07:48:04-05

Orlando Ortega posted a Facebook video of his now former co-worker, Eileen Marcinkowski, that shows a racist rant that involves her calling him the N-word on Sunday.

The video has more than 4,000 shares as of Monday morning.  

The owner of the restaurant, where the incident took place, said the video doesn't tell the whole story. 

“The lady in the video he actually did hit. She had blood on her face, she was bleeding," said Jane Thursfield, owner of Cactus Jack. 

Thursfield says Ortega provoked the fight when he punched Marcinkowski in the face after he was let go by the restaurant. Scripps station WFTX in Fort Myers reported you could see no evidence of blood on Marcinkowski's face in the Facebook video. 

The owner says even if Marcinkowski was provoked, the racial comments were not OK. 

“No, no. Of course not. No, we don’t condone that at all,” said Thursfield.

Other customers, like Johnny Samz, who regularly eats at Cactus Jack, agreed. 

“I don’t think it’s ever good, for anybody to use the N-word," said Samz. "I don’t care what the circumstances are.” 

Four in your corner's, Jasmine Minor, asked since Ortego no longer worked at the restaurant, if Marcinkowski would face the same fate. 

“She is still working here, yeah," said Thursfield. "I have not been here long and she’s working, but we will obviously address that.” 

The owner says the incident took place "off-the-clock" and "off business property." She still plans on addressing the issue with her entire staff. 

Ortega conducted a Facebook live, Sunday night, where he says he "absolutely did not provoke anything" and says he plans on filing a discriminatory lawsuit. 

BELOW IS THE FULL VIDEO OF THE RANT.  CAUTION - THE VIDEO CONTAINS MULTIPLE EXPLETIVES AND SOME MAY FIND THE VIDEO OFFENSIVE: