An ex-Cinnabon employee in Wisconsin who was filmed hurling the N-word at a Somali Muslim couple has attempted to defend herself by insisting she cannot be racist because she once had a “coloured” son. Crystal Wilsey went viral this week for harassing a Somali couple before being fired by the franchise. However, she has raised over $120,000 in fundraiser money through the help of social media.Crystal Wilsey defended herself in a TikTok video posted after she was dismissed. “P.S., to the racism, if you look at my Facebook from 2010, you’ll see on there that I have a blended family, and my son was colored,” she said. However, netizens were not happy with this explanation since this does not give any person, especially of white race, to hurl N-word at a black person.Moreover, Wilsey also said the boy’s darker skin was not due to ethnicity but to a medical condition, according to EURweb. She told viewers her son had Addison’s disease, adding: “Addison’s disease, and he was discriminated called chocolate because he had brown skin – explanation of racism.” This explanation also didn’t undo the damage of the original slur.
The incident
The confrontation that led to her firing took place at a Cinnabon outlet in Wisconsin and was recorded by the woman involved. The video shows Wilsey mocking the woman’s hijab, using the N-word repeatedly and raising both middle fingers: “I am racist, and I’ll say it to the whole entire world.”The couple said they had simply asked for more caramel on their cinnamon roll. Cinnabon later described the footage as “deeply troubling” and confirmed that Wilsey had been dismissed by the owner.Wilsey’s has had a troubling personal history as well. Court records show a long list of offences spanning more than twenty years, including drug charges, domestic abuse cases and child-endangerment allegations across several states.
Was the Cinnabon worker harassed first?
Supporters claim Crystal was “harassed” and unfairly sacked. Some social media users claimed the Somali couple had mocked the employee first for not wearing a hijab, which in turn provoked her. Her donation page states: “No White person should lose their job for refusing to be harassed by Somalians.”Wilsey has insisted her comments were meant as sarcasm, comparing her language to “edgy comedy” and saying her diverse friendship circle proves she is not prejudiced. The woman who filmed the encounter dismissed that explanation. “Sarcasm? You smiled while saying it and flipped us off. That’s not a joke – that’s hate,” she wrote online.Furthermore, US President Donald Trump recently called Somali communities “garbage.” This hostility only worsened the situation as federal authorities prepare an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota targeting Somali nationals who are living unlawfully in the country.
