Employee at Bayside eatery under fi re
Waitress denies writing racist Facebook post, claiming her account was hacked
BY JENNA BAGCAL
The Asian community in
Bayside voiced outrage after
a local restaurant employee
allegedly posted racist comments
on a community Facebook
group.
Screenshots from a now deleted
Facebook page show an
employee at Brian Dempsey’s
on Bell Boulevard referring to
Chinese and Korean people as
“cockroaches.”
Residents identified the
woman as restaurant server
Mariesa Stewart, who allegedly
posted the comment on
the Bayside Facebook group
on Sept. 15.
Stewart, however, denied
she made the comment and said
her account had been hacked.
But locals began flooding
the comment sections on Brian
Dempsey’s Yelp, Instagram
and Facebook pages, the latter
of which was temporarily shut
down prior to Sept. 26. Additionally,
resident Koy Penguina,
who wished to use an alias
for protection, said that the admin
of the restaurant’s Instagram
was deleting comments
calling out the racist behavior.
“Brian Demsey – your employees
are the face and reflection
of your establishment. I
will no longer support your
bar as your bartender supports
racism against Chinese and
Koreans,” said one Yelp poster.
“But seeing how I’m just a
cockroach in the eyes of their
staff, me and the other roaches
will take our business elsewhere.
It’s been a fun 9+ years
going to this establishment.
Sad knowing this is how they
really felt of me going there,”
wrote another Yelp reviewer.
Stewart, who initially appeared
as “Mariesa Mc Cluskey
Stewart” on Facebook,
changed her name to “Mariesa
Stewart” amidst the backlash.
She then issued a statement on
her page claiming that someone
had “hacked” or “cloned”
her Facebook.
Penguina said that she and
her friends reported Stewart’s
A Brian Dempsey’s employee allegedly called Korean and Chinese
people “cockroaches” in a now deleted Facebook post
original comment, which
came down the same day it was
posted.
Brian Dempsey’s, which
just celebrated 25 years of business
on Sept. 21, issued the following
statement on its official
Facebook page:
Courtesy of Brian Dempsey’s
“We are aware of the racist
comments being circulated
around the social media space.
Brian Dempsey’s does not condone
nor accept these hateful
comments. We are located in
one of most diverse areas in the
world, which is rich in culture.
We have been in operation for
25 years and we owe much of
our success to the Queens
community. We consider diversity
to be a fundamental value
to be fully upheld, respected
and are working on a solution
so that we can better serve this
community. We are deeply saddened
to see this and offer our
support to those who have been
affected and offended by this
unfortunate circumstance.”
But Penguina said that in
addition to the statement, the
Chinese and Korean communities
wanted the restaurant to
formally apologize. When she
reached out to the establishment,
she said they repeated
that Stewart’s Facebook had
been hacked.
QNS request for additional
comment from Brian
Dempsey’s was not immediately
answered.
Reach reporter Jenna Bagcal
by e-mail at jbagcal@qns.
com or by phone at (718) 260-
2583.
ADVERTORIAL
!
"
#
$
%
&
'
(
)*
+
,
!
!
*
-
-
&
.
/
.
0
"
%
-
1
2
-
.
-
3
+
++
4+5
"
2 ,
",
,
.-0&
-
-
"
!
$
$
!
*
+
6
5,
)
6
&*
5
"
2* ,
,
6,
.,
. ,
1,
-*,
7
-
8
!
!
98:
;!,
;!,
();,
;!
(
5
;!
"
*
8
8
<
4"&
6
=
7 >
?88@
ABB+C
$
88C
D$E
7
Belong. Believe. Become.
CATHEDRAL HIGH SCHOOL
OPEN HOUSE
JOIN US TO LEARN MORE
Medical Gateways Program
Law Program
Business Program
STEM Curriculum
The Class of 2019 earned over $27 million in
college scholarships and grants.
Sunday,
October 20, 2019
12 – 3 PM
350 East 56th Street, NYC • www.cathedralhs.org • 212.688.1545
Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools
24 TIMESLEDGER, OCT. 4-10, 2019 BT QNS.COM
/QNS.COM
/www.cathedralhs.org
/www.cathedralhs.org
link
