It's ma'am: Trans woman explains why she cursed at GameStop cashier in viral video.
The woman captured on video yelling and cursing at a GameStop cashier is speaking out after the cellphone footage went viral. Tiffany Moore, who is a transgender woman, claims the cashier misgendered her numerous times before she pushed back.
“I mean, it was blatant and malicious hate. It was blatant and malicious misgendering,” the New Mexico mom says in an interview with Albuquerque news station KOB4.
The heated exchange that resulted was captured by a fellow customer and shared to YouTube on Dec. 28. Since then it has racked up more than a million views.
Moore says she was trying to return a video game that she had bought for her son when the cashier continued to refer to her using a gender pronoun she didn’t identify with, according to KOB4.
“Ma’am! Once again, ‘ma’am!,” Moore can be heard yelling. “If you want to call me sir again, I will show you a f***ing sir.” The cashier apologizes before Moore kicks over a display. “I plan on telling the entire LGBTQ community; you’re going to lose money over this,” Moore says before leaving.
Now Moore wants to tell her side of the story. “I was so angry at that point because, literally, five or six times [the cashier] had called me ‘sir.’ He got me so fuming angry, and I was cussing,” she tells KOB4.
Moore has since become the subject of memes, one of which reads, “macho ma’am tranny savage.”
Because of the Macho Ma'am Tranny Savage video? Oooooooh Yeah! pic.twitter.com/qrpzH3HdGg
— Justin Powell (@JustinP25982070) December 30, 2018
“What’s really sad is it’s bringing so many bigots out of the woodwork,” she says. According to KOB4, Moore is a rapper and has written a song about this experience in the hopes of using the incident to spread her message. “We’re humans just like you,” Moore said. “We’re people just like you. We have kids. We have parents. We have brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins — we’re just trying to live.”
Moore admits that her reaction in the store wasn’t composed, but she has no regrets.
“I could have reacted a whole lot better,” she says. “But you know what: I look back at it and if I could, I wouldn’t change a single thing. I would do it 100,000 times again. I would kick over that display 100,000 times again. Because my actions were justified.”
In a statement to Yahoo Lifestyle, GameStop says it sees itself as an inclusive company.
“GameStop prides itself on having a very diverse workforce, many of whom are members of the transgender community,” Joey Mooring, senior director, corporate communications at GameStop, says in a statement provided to Yahoo Lifestyle. “We proudly support and serve everyone who enters our stores regardless of gender or gender expression.”
The company is also standing by its sales associate. “The incident that occurred between Tiffany Moore and our GameStop associate was unfortunate. We believe our associate acted professionally after misspeaking by apologizing and remaining calm to de-escalate the situation,” the company says.
While GameStop is “committed to inclusiveness,” it is also “continually learning.”
“This incident reminds us to continue pursuing efforts to ensure GameStop remains a diverse, inclusive culture that celebrates every person’s unique value,” the company says in its statement.
Yahoo Lifestyle has reached out to Moore for comment and will update this post when we hear back.
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