Office Depot has fired a worker at one of its Michigan locations after a viral video showed staff refusing to print posters of Charlie Kirk for a vigil honoring the late conservative activist.
The office supply retailer said in a statement to Fox News that it is “deeply concerned by the unfortunate customer experience” that took place at Store 3382 in Portage, Michigan.
In the viral video, which has generated more than 4 million views on X as of Saturday morning, a person recording can be heard telling a trio of employees that they came into the store earlier in the night to pick up an order for posters to be used at a vigil.
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A woman who identified herself as one of the store’s managers responded by saying, “Yeah, so, we don’t print propaganda.” She then doubled down and said, “It’s propaganda. I’m sorry. We don’t print that here.”
When the person recording the video asked what makes the posters propaganda, she said, “Because he’s a political figure and I don’t have to …” before another employee cut her off and said the general manager would be in on Monday.
The video was initially posted on Friday by Michigan Forward Network, a conservative political advocacy group, which said that one of its team members had put in the order to be used to honor Kirk, who was shot dead while speaking at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
The video created a firestorm online with numerous commentators calling on Office Depot to act.
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Office Depot said Friday night that an “immediate internal review” was launched, and the employee involved in the incident is “no longer with the organization.” The company also said it reached out to the customer as soon as it learned of the incident “to address their concerns and seek to fulfill their order to their satisfaction.”
“The behavior displayed by our associate is completely unacceptable and insensitive, violates our company policies, and does not reflect the values we uphold at Office Depot,” the statement reads.
“On behalf of the Company, we sincerely apologize for this regrettable situation.”
The company did not state which employee was fired, and said it will “continue to aggressively investigate the matter,” and action will be taken where it is appropriate.
The statement ended with, “We are committed to reinforcing training with all team members to ensure our standards of respect, integrity, and customer service are upheld at every location. Our customers and communities deserve nothing less.”
Office Depot has 845 superstores in 44 states and the District of Columbia, according to the company’s website.
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