YouTube content creator Lauren Love brought a Texas Walmart employee named Maria Leones (pictured) to tears by posing as an executive and pretending to fire her in a video posted on Love's channel
A YouTube content creator with more than one million subscribers brought a Texas Walmart employee to tears by posing as an executive and pretending to fire her in a video posted on her channel.
Lauren Love, who runs a YouTube channel called Joel and Lauren TV, played the cruel joke on Maria Leones in a since-deleted video that was published on April 23.
Leones, whose husband recently underwent heart surgery according to Click2Houston, broke down in tears at the thought of losing her job at the Richmond super store.
Love and her partner have now been banned from all Walmart locations and have encountered a backlash on social media as a result of the cruel prank.
Walmart said it asked YouTube to remove the video, but it's not clear whether the platform took it down or Love deleted in on her own.
'This prank is offensive and the people responsible are no longer welcome in our stores,' the company said in a statement.
'We’ve taken actions on behalf of our associates, including asking YouTube to remove the video and calling their attention to the bullying nature of this hoax. Our associates work hard every day to serve our customers. They do a fantastic job, deserve better than being subjected to such disrespect, and will continue to have our full support.'
In the video, which was titled 'CEO Firing People Prank IN THE HOOD (GONE WRONG),' according to CBS, Love wore a blue Walmart smock and claimed to be CEO of the discount store.
In the video, Love wore a blue Walmart smock and claimed to be CEO of the discount store
Love and her partner have now been banned from all Walmart locations and have encountered backlash on social media as a result of the cruel joke. The two are pictured with their child
She was shown criticizing the work of several people and tell them they were fired, while praising others.
Leones, who worked in academia in Asia before coming to the U.S., was the last person addressed in the video.
'Really, I was really so crushed, I felt so little, I felt so powerless,' Leones said.
'At that very moment, I felt so little, because back home I had a very good reputation because I’m a professor.'
In the video, Love confronts Leones while she's at work, walking through aisles attending to the shelves.
Leones responds telling her she's scheduled to work 9am to 6pm that day in the garden center, as the cashier.
'You're in the cashier? So wait, why are you over here?' Love asks Leones, who then explains that the store policy is to stay busy with other tasks when customers don't need assistance at the register.
Then, Love tells her that she's the CEO of the store, and she doesn't agree with that approach.
In the video, Love confronts Leones while she's at work, walking through aisles attending to the shelves and asking her why she isn't at the cash register
'OK, well I'm the CEO of today, my dad used to own this Walmart specifically, but he actually doesn't work with this one anymore so I'm actually
