Amidst all the videos making rounds where people are embracing their inner racism and xenophobia, another video went viral from Gladstone, Missouri. The video was taken in a Pizza Hut, which had reignited the debate on language identity and lack of social civility amongst Americans.
The footage shows a woman berating another customer and threatening them with ICE when she overheard the couple speaking in a language other than English.
The video has since been shared and reshared several times over on social media and has also been shared by commentator Brian Krassenstein.
A MAGA woman at a Pizza Hut in Gladstone, Missouri, tried to call ICE on a couple waiting for their food, telling them it’s “English only” in the U.S.
She declared, “English is the capital of America,” and ordered them to “self deport back to Puerto Rico.”
“I am not racist, I… pic.twitter.com/O8izLilD94
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) October 21, 2025
In the video, the woman is wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat. She can be heard demanding that the couple speak English, saying that “English is the capital of America.” One has to say that her grammatically flawed framing of the sentence and botched geography are less of a concern than the politically charged intent behind it.
Her tone and context show a mindset that equates speaking English with being “truly American.” The confrontation then escalated when she threatened to contact ICE. All this even though the people she’s addressing are U.S. citizens.
Witnesses at the store have said that the woman started shouting at the couple who were waiting for the food and then accused them of being undocumented.
At one point during the argument, she allegedly told them to “self-deport back to Puerto Rico.” The remark is another example of her lack of geographical knowledge of U.S. territory since Puerto Rico is part of America, and Puerto Ricans are American citizens by birth.
Her statement was racially insensitive and factually incorrect.
This irony of all this was not lost on viewers on the internet. People quickly flooded social media with outrage, mockery, and condemnation.
Though incidents such as these have become part of the norm these days, with people weaponizing ICE as their personal security, since this incident happened in a casual family-friendly Pizza Hut restaurant, it was far more bizarre and jarring.
Staff members reportedly tried to de-escalate the situation while other patrons looked on in disbelief. So far, there is no information on whether any law enforcement was contacted or not; there has been no news of any arrest or official report to the media and public.
This was a prime example of casual racism in the daily lives of several non-white Americans, and social media has recognized it just as.
Brewers ban fans involved in ‘Call ICE’ incident from stadium https://t.co/NoeHBfEvSN pic.twitter.com/ptjWO58n59
— New York Post (@nypost) October 17, 2025
Many users have pointed out that the encounter reflects broader tensions surrounding language and identity in the United States. America is a hot pot of cultures and languages where multilingualism is increasingly common. However, still there is a stigma attached to anything that is not conformative to the caucasian sensibility.
People have also emphasized that demanding “English only” in public is not just rude but legally baseless. There is no official language in the U.S., and speaking another language is a protected right.
The Gladstone Pizza Hut video is just the latest in a string of viral moments exposing everyday xenophobia caught on camera. While some see humor in the woman’s absurd statements, others warn that this behavior has real consequences. Threatening people with deportation, even when unfounded, can create fear and division.
