Stuart Seldowitz, a former adviser to Barack Obama, has been dismissed by his employer, Gotham Government Relations, after a video surfaced in which he engaged in a racist and Islamophobic tirade against a food cart vendor in New York. Seldowitz’s actions were captured in a viral video thread shared on social media, leading to Gotham Government Relations cutting ties with him on Tuesday (Nov 21).
In a statement, the lobbying firm announced the termination of all affiliation with Seldowitz, describing the video of his actions as “vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm.” His page was subsequently removed from the firm’s website.
Seldowitz, who served as the firm’s foreign affairs chair, was hired last year. His previous roles included acting as the director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate under Obama and serving as deputy director/senior political officer in the US State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003.
In the video, Seldowitz threatened the cart vendor, stating that the Egyptian intelligence agency would harm his parents. He continued with derogatory remarks, including inappropriate comments about the vendor’s daughter and offensive statements about the Quran. The video was posted by a user who claimed that Seldowitz had been harassing the vendor for the past two weeks.
The incident prompted Gotham Government Relations to swiftly sever ties with Seldowitz, emphasizing that his actions were not aligned with the firm’s standards. The firm condemned the racist and offensive behavior exhibited in the video.
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