Restaurant firing workers, cleaning after ‘unsanitary’ video

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia fast-food restaurant says workers will be fired after a Facebook video shows them joking about having sex and spitting in customers’ food, among other unsanitary acts.

But one former Checkers employee who posted the video says it was simply a publicity stunt gone wrong.

That man, Richard Benson, tells WCAU-TV that he’s a comedian and hip-hop artist who posted the video as a publicity stunt. He says none of the workers actually did the things described in the 44-minute video.

The Checkers franchise is taking the matter seriously and issued a statement saying the restaurant on Stenton Avenue will remain closed until it is “fully sanitized and re-inspected” and that the workers involved in the video are being fired. Other employees will be retrained.