Artist humiliated her restaurant staff — so she bought his $4800 sculpture and shattered it to teach him a lesson

A restaurateur in Florida publicly confronted and clapped back with the ultimate response at a well-known artist, Romero Britto, after he allegedly mistreated her staff. The confrontation took place at Britto’s Miami gallery during a meet-and-greet event. In a video that has resurfaced online after being posted by Reddit user u/ChompyRiley on July 27, the restaurateur accuses Britto of demeaning her team over a low-cost group breakfast and then follows up by smashing one of his sculptures in front of him. The video has gained over 42,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours.

"You went to my restaurant, you booked a breakfast for 20 people for $8, which is cheap, and on top of that, you asked us for a discount. You humiliated my staff, you asked them to turn off the music, and you asked them not to speak... It was humiliating. I thought you were an honest and respectable person, but you lacked humility... I demand that you never come to my restaurant again," she said in Spanish. After delivering those words, the woman, owner of Tapelia restaurant in Miami Beach, proceeded to break a porcelain sculpture known as The Big Apple. The piece, sold on Britto’s official website for $4,800, was a gift her husband wanted to buy for her birthday, as per Le Parisien. "I had put you on a pedestal and admired you as an artist," she said, raising her voice. As she smashed the sculpture, she said, "Never go to my restaurant or offend my team. I respected you."

Although the original poster subsequently deleted the video, it went viral again after being posted on various social media channels, including Reddit. Many Reddit users praised the woman for standing up for her staff and holding Britto accountable in such a public manner. u/alwaysfatigued8787 said, "That was such a powerful artistic expression by her. I see beauty in chaos, complexity in rage, and $5,000 for sweet petty revenge." u/Lionheart51st commented, "This person just became a supervillain who shows back up in 5 years for revenge." u/Artistic_Ad_3267 noted, "I can appreciate she'd spend 5k to show how much she cares about her business and employees.

u/RedditIsFiction quipped, "It was a flex, showing that she doesn't have to be as cheap as he is, while also further bruising his ego by destroying his artwork." u/AlternativeFilm8886 shared an incident, "I met this guy once when my friend and I walked into his gallery. He was a crabby snob who called us trash. It's fun to see this video going viral." The owner's response, while dramatic, was justified, considering how common such staff-customer encounters are nowadays. According to a 2021 study published in Int J Environ Res Public Health, approximately 82% of customer-contact employees in hospitality report dealing with violent or rude customers.

Such incidents are mostly witnessed in restaurant settings that serve alcohol, and researchers note that this deviant behavior not only disrupts service encounters but also decreases satisfaction for other guests and can harm a business’s financial performance. In a statement to Estadão, Britto denied all accusations of disrespect. "I do not admit disrespect, and I never intended to disrespect anyone. The internet is often unfair, and people are not concerned with the truth. They like confusion, drama, negativity, to judge without analyzing the facts," he said.