Owner of Orange County pizzeria accused of using racial slur during customer dispute

Cellphone video captured part of the heated exchange on Father's Day at Village Pizzeria in Goshen.

News 12 Staff

Jun 22, 2021, 9:36 PM

Updated 1,282 days ago

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A pizzeria owner in Orange County is accused of using a racial slur during a customer dispute after a video of the encounter went viral, but the owner disputes that.
Cellphone video captured part of the heated exchange on Father's Day at Village Pizzeria in Goshen.
Esther Garcia, 54, says the owner of the pizzeria called her the N-word and made other racially insensitive remarks during a dispute about her order. She then took out her cellphone and started recording the incident.
"He made me feel like a piece of crap. I felt so bad. I can't even describe," she says.
Owner JonPaul Brancato denies using the racial slur and says the video shows what was said after Garcia made racist remarks toward his wife in the video.
"She proceeded to yell at me, spit at me," he says. "I said, 'Get your a-- out of here and go back to Middletown' because she made reference to her son, that this s--- doesn't happen in Middletown."
Garcia denies saying anything to Brancato's wife.