An Adams Morgan cafe owner went viral for his racist rant against a food delivery driver earlier this week, but the story has gotten even more bizarre and troublesome since then. On Monday, Greg Harris was filmed verbally assaulting driver Gregorio Amundarain, who posted the video on TikTok. “Learn English!,” Harris shouted repeatedly. “This ain’t your fucking country.”
DC police say he’s now being investigated for hate crimes and assault over the incident, and his restaurant, Canna Coffee Cookie Ice Cream Cafe Burger Wing Spot, has been dropped by Doordash and Uber Eats, which said it was “absolutely disgusted” by his behavior, Fox5 DC reports.
@gregorio_96Gente el video TikTok’s me lo bajo compartan y difundan esto no puede quedar asi♬ sonido original – Gregorio
The business was originally a cannabis dispensary called Mary Jays Exotic, which was accused of illegally manufacturing, growing, and selling marijuana by the DC Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, Fox5 DC reports. It’s since morphed into Canna, an eatery with an unusual internet presence. Many of the food and interior images Harris has uploaded appear to be altered or computer-generated—one shows a pole dancer made of syrup drizzled over a stack of pancakes.
Weirder still, food blogger @eat_dc pointed out that some dishes on Canna’s Uber Eats menu—now taken down—seemed to have be lifted directly from the menu at Tatte—items as specific as a honey halva latte and a spinach, jerusalem artichoke and egg plate. Even some menu photos appeared to be taken from Tatte’s site.
On Google Maps, CANNA is listed as open 24/7, and its owners have somewhat dubiously identified it as Black-owned, veteran-owned, women-owned, Latin-owned, Asian-owned, LGBTQ+ owned, disabled-owned, and Indigenous-owned. The shop is decorated with an enormous inflatable coffee cup and signs reading “Humans are Crazy.”
DC’s Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection shut down the restaurant Thursday, telling the Washington Post that it had been investigating the business for months for unspecified infractions. The health department had ordered it to close on September 11.
But on Thursday afternoon, two men standing outside the restaurant told Washingtonian they were friends of the business, and that it was still open to friends and family. One man, who said his name was Chosen but wouldn’t give a last name, said he’d only be interviewed if he was paid through CashApp. (Harris told WUSA9 to either send a Black reporter or pay him for an exclusive interview).
The other man directed us to his YouTube channel, TheUrbanLandlord, which featured a quote from Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” on its homepage. The most recent videos were focused on immigration and had titles such as “Eye Opening Interview Springfield Resident Reveals Truth About Haitian Migrant Crisis.” The man said that the US government was too focused on making it easy for immigrants to find housing in the US. “That’s what he’s dealing with,” he said about Harris.
Around the corner on 18th Street, a group of Venezuelan delivery drivers were sitting on their motorbikes waiting for orders to come through on their phones. Several said they knew Amundarain, who was also from Caracas, and had watched his TikToks.
One woman, Alejandra Martinez, said she’d been called a “b—-” and berated by an employee at Taco Bell, but that interactions like that were rare.
“He acted really well, stayed calm and just recorded,” another driver, Tony, said of Amundarain. “If it was me…” he mimed hauling off and punching someone.
Washingtonian couldn’t reach Amundarain, but on a TikTok Live video on Thursday night, Amundarain told the audience in Spanish that he had a “hard, hard day” on Monday. “We immigrants here in the US, we’re key and fundamental here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Harris himself has maintained an active Instagram presence since the incident, changing his bio to “the guy who went viral for telling the truth in a #mean way.”
Harris posted a picture of a WTOP reporter who arrived to interview him, and has also posted several videos of interactions with customers and one person who appears to have been protesting outside the restaurant.
“I’m famous!,” he jokes in one video, speaking to friends in a car outside the restaurant. “They don’t even know the whole story though.”
“The Successful #BlackBusinessOwner that Founded @cannacoffeeicecreamplantburger Is Not Letting The Hate Stop The Grind!,” reads another caption. “DM NOW FOR NEW EXCLUSIVE MERCH!”
