Franklin Templeton Investments has fired one of its senior employees after a video of her threatening a man in New York in a racist attack went viral on Monday.
Amy Cooper, the firm’s head of insurance investment solutions, got in an argument with a man when he asked if she could abide by park rules requiring her dog to be on a lead.
He started to film the incident when she responded angrily to the interaction.
“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” Cooper said in the video.
It also goes on to show her making the call to the police with an increasingly frenzied tone, although it does not appear she is in any immediate danger and she has since apologised for the altercation.
Company response
Cooper was initially put on “administrative leave” by the company.
But in a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Franklin Templeton said: “Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately.
“We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton.”
As of midday on Wednesday, the video has nearly 40 million views on social networking site Twitter.
Apology
Cooper has since apologised to the man and his family and denied that she is racist. She has also been forced to surrender her rescue dog as the video showed her handling it roughly.
The incident took place early on the morning of 25 May, which was Memorial Day in the US.
Franklin Templeton announced it had placed Cooper on leave later that day.
For more insight on UK wealth management, please click on www.portfolio-adviser.com
