Influencer food reviewer who throws meals he doesn't like charged after hurling cheesesteak at Philly restaurant worker
Published: | Updated:
A content creator was charged after throwing a Philly cheesesteak into the face of a restaurant worker earlier this week.
Manager of Pat's King of Steaks, Tom Francano, who has been working at the restaurant for nearly 50 years, was pelted with the sandwich.
Surveillance footage showed the man sitting at a table outside Pat's and dissecting the sandwich into parts without actually eating it.
He then came back to the counter and threw the cheesesteak at Francano before running away.
Francano's boss, Frank Olivieri, and his IT team managed to find the video of the ugly scene that the influencer had uploaded to YouTube and Instagram.
'How brazen are you to assault somebody and then post it?' Olivieri asked in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. 'Thank God for stupidity.'
The YouTube account h4ll0w33n published the video entitled 'I Threw This Cheesesteak in His Face Geno's Steaks' and confused the stand with another renowned food spot.
The video's thumbnail showed an image of a cheesesteak flying into a man's face, and included a text overlay saying: 'THIS CHEESESTEAK SUCKED!'
'He wanted to be famous,' Olivieri said. 'He got exactly what he asked for. Now, he needs to be accountable for his actions and his words.'
The unidentified influencer was caught on camera ordering a Philly cheesesteak and throwing it into the face of Pat's King of Steak manager Tom Francano
The owner of Pat's, Frank Olivieri, later found the video of the incident that the content creator uploaded to social media
'How brazen are you to assault somebody and then post it?' Olivieri asked. 'Thank God for stupidity'
The video also appeared on a newly created Instagram account, YAM TV, which described itself as a reality food critic show. None of the accounts disclosed the offender's name.
Olivieri offered a $5,000 reward after the Wednesday attack for anyone providing information leading to the attacker's arrest and conviction.
On Friday, he reportedly gave the money to someone who contacted him with info but police said the influencer turned himself in.
The content creator was charged with harassment, police said.
His motive for the attack stayed unclear but he reportedly said he reviews restaurants and throws the food at employees if he doesn't like it.
Pat's King of Steaks is a popular Philly cheesesteak location
The content creator was charged with harassment but Olivieri is disappointed with the punishment
Olivieri said Friday that he was disappointed with the minor charge: 'What are they going to give him, community service?
'Maybe he should come over here and sweep the pavement.'
Olivieri said he was so committed to finding the cheesesteak-thrower out of fear that no consequences would incentivize people to do the same again: 'I not only did this for me.
'I think it's for everyone else who has had an issue with a pizza influencer, a hoagie influencer, or whatever.'
Pat's King of Steaks reportedly wants to forbid cameras at the restaurant in the future.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.