Pioneering tristate butcher shop Fleishers has temporarily closed all four of its locations after roughly three dozen employees orchestrated a walkout on July 23. The move came after Robert Rosania, the companys leading investor, instructed Fleishers CEO John Adams to remove signs supporting the Black Lives Matter and LGBTQIA+ movements from storefronts in New York and Connecticut.
The incident that sparked the walkout occurred on July 22, when Rosania reportedly received a text message from a friend, claiming they were offended by a sign in support of the Black Lives Matter movement hanging in the Westport stores window. Rosania, a real estate developer and billionaire wine collector, called Adams and instructed him to remove the signs, according to former workers with knowledge of the events.
Former employees say that Adams, the companys newly minted chief executive and fifth CEO in five years, took a train from the companys headquarters in New York to its butcher shop in Westport to remove the sign, along with a second sign that depicted a Black fist raised over a Pride flag. The following morning on July 23, Adams returned to New York City and removed signs from the butcher shop located in Park Slope.
In the hours after the incident, the atmosphere was at a fever pitch, says Ajani Thompson, the former manager of Fleishers in Park Slope. Thompson, who is Black, says that removing the signs sent a message to the companys staff, approximately half of which identify as either LGBTQIA+ or BIPOC, according to former employees.
I want you to grab your nuts. Grab your balls. I want you to take a handful, and just grab your nuts real quick. Swivel 'em around in a circular motion. -LTG