Taco Bell says its employees can wear Black Lives Matter masks after a man who worked at an Ohio location said he was fired for doing so.
USA Today reported Denzel Skinner posted a Facebook Live video June 8 about getting fired from a Youngstown, Ohio, location of Taco Bell after working there for eight years because he wouldn't take off his Black Lives Matter mask.
“This is crazy. All because I got a Black Lives Matter mask on that I’m losing my job,” Skinner said in the clip. “We can wear any type of masks.”
»RELATED: Publix says its employees cannot wear Black Lives Matter gear
WKBN reported that Skinner said in the video -- and later to one of the local station's reporters -- that he wore the mask because the restaurant was hot after the air conditioning recently went out. He said the surgical masks provided by Taco Bell made it hard to breathe in those conditions, so he switched to his own Black Lives Matter mask.
Skinner said a manager said he could not wear the mask.
“You can’t bring politics into the building,” an unidentified woman, believed to be a manager, told Skinner in the video.
“Bro, I’m not bringing politics in, this is what I’m standing for,” Skinner responded. “Like, how is this considered politics?”
»RELATED: Starbucks allows Black Lives Matter attire after backlash
According to Skinner, Taco Bell’s mask policy says they must be worn while working. There is nothing about the messages on the mask.
“All it stated was (the mask) had to be clean,” Skinner said.
Skinner told WKBN he does not plan to go back after being fired and would not come back if he was asked.
A few days after the video was posted, the post began to gain traction. It has more than 34,000 views and has been shared more than 1,100 times.
The fast-food chain said in its statement to USA TODAY that the company's chief people officer and parent-company Yum!'s chief diversity and inclusion officer spoke with Skinner last week, apologizing and discussing the matter.
“Our goal is to ensure our policies are inclusive and keep our team members and customers safe,” Taco Bell said in a statement. “While our policies at restaurants do not prohibit Team Members from wearing Black Lives Matter masks, we are working to clarify our mask policy so this doesn’t happen again.”
Taco Bell is the latest company to make headlines for policies on wearing items of clothing that say Black Lives Matter. Last week, Starbucks changed its policy barring employees from wearing Black Lives Matter attire after widespread criticism.
Publix, however, stood by the decision made by one of its locations in Florida to send home an employee wearing a face mask with the letters “BLM” on it, citing the company’s uniform policy which “does not permit non-Publix messaging on clothing or accessories.”
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