Restaurant chain Jimmy John’s says it has fired workers who were seen in a viral clip laughing and playing with what appeared to be a noose shaped from dough at one its stores in Georgia over the weekend.
The tweet came in response to a video that had been posted on Twitter earlier on Sunday that showed a Jimmy John’s worker laughing as another helped him try on the apparent noose. Another worker could also be seen standing off to the side in the store, filming the incident.
The clip also features a “Happy 4th of July” message at the bottom.
According to The Telegraph in Macon, Ga., the incident occurred at a Jimmy John’s restaurant in Woodstock. Four workers in total were reportedly fired over the incident, which has drawn swift backlash on social media.
The fast food brand addressed the incident in an updated statement on Twitter later Monday.
“The actions seen in the video are absolutely unacceptable and do not represent the Jimmy John’s brand or the local franchise ownership team. As soon as we were alerted to the video, we notified our franchisee, who quickly investigated and terminated all employees involved,” the chain said.
“The franchisee is also meeting with their team to conduct training to help prevent anything like this from ever happening again,” it added.