“Here in America We Don't Eat Turtles and Frogs”: SF Tour Guide Goes On Racist Rant as Sightseeing Bus Drives Through Chinatown

A San Francisco sightseeing company is apologizing after a tour guide was caught on video as she went off on a racist rant about Chinatown during a bus tour through the neighborhood.

The clip — “San Francisco - city sightseeing tour guide at her last working day” — quickly went viral after it was posted on YouTube Tuesday, garnering more than 212,000 views and nearly a 1,000 (mostly angry) comments as of Thursday morning.

“[Expletive] your pre-schools … making all that noise at 6 a.m. … [Expletive] your salons ... [expletive] your seafood markets, with your little turtles and frogs inside — OK? Here in America, we don’t eat turtles and frogs,” the guide says on her last day at work, as perplexed tourists on the bus look on.

Christian Watts, CEO of City Sightseeing San Francisco, apologized Thursday for the behavior of the company's now-former employee.

"Comments made by this former employee on her last day of employment are absolutely not a representation of how much we love and support Chinatown, and every other community in San Francisco," Watts said in a statement, adding that the company was adding additional training to ensure "each tour is up to our rigorous standard."

San Francisco Supervisor David Chiu called for an apology as soon as he saw the video. He said he was saddened and disheartened that comments like that would be made in 2014.

“The Chinatown community has experienced, over the years, enormous racism. In the 19th century, in the 1800s, there were anti-Chinese exclusion laws and history of racism,” said Chiu, whose district includes Chinatown. “But I certainly had hoped and thought in recent decades and years that we moved well beyond that. This dredges up a lot of intense perspectives from many residents in San Francisco.”

The tour guide — who remains unidentified — also seems annoyed by other typical Chinatown sightings: laundry hanging from windows, noise, parades, dragons and ginseng.

The guide goes on to say the Chinatown in her hometown, Los Angeles, is “way cleaner, way better restaurants.” 

“If you are considering moving to San Francisco, although this is the cheapest neighborhood, do not live here,” she warns. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

[Warning: Some viewers may find the language used in the video disturbing.]

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