Report: Duke VP Demanded Campus Baristas Fired Over Rap Song

Baristas working at a coffee chain on Duke University’s campus were fired for playing a rap song with profanity in it, according to The Washington Post. The Joe Van Gogh baristas told Indy Week that their contracts were terminated after Duke’s “vice president for student affairs Larry Moneta and executive director of dining services Robert Coffey demanded that the local coffee chain fire them.” Moneta was reportedly “offended” by the song “Get Paid” by Young Dolph, and told this to Britni Brown, the woman running the register. Brown allegedly shut it off immediately and apologized “profusely.” A woman working for Joe Van Gogh’s human resources department reportedly told the employees that the university “has instructed us to terminate the employees that were working that day.” In a statement, Moneta said he was “shocked” by the lyrics and denied telling the company to terminate the employees, saying it was “solely at their discretion.”