Britons banned from calling Americans 'Yanks' in 'racial harassment' court ruling

More than five million Britons have been banned from referring to Americans as "Yanks" after a Scottish court ruled the term mounts to racial harassment.

The ruling comes following a dispute between American Pizza Express worker Raymond Joseph and his colleague Michael Tortolano at a branch of the restaurant in Aberdeen.

Mr Joseph claimed his co-worker had shouted at him during a shift: “Go back to your country, you f****** Yank.”

The American employee was left furious by the comments - and subsequently sued Mr Tortolano.

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The Scottish judge ruled that the Pizza Express employee's outburst was “constituted harassment related to race”, and Mr Joseph was handed over £5,000 in compensation.

The verbal bust-up took place last year, but Mr Joseph believed one of his managers, Evan Baranowski, disliked him from the moment he started working at the restaurant in 2024, the tribunal heard.

Mr Joseph branded Mr Baranowski "authoritarian" after allegedly scolding for being one minute late to his shift.

The American then raised the issue to general manager Bethany McFarlane, accusing Mr Baranowski of creating a “bad vibe”.

He also accused his shift manager of transferring tables in a bid to stop him receiving tips and rounding down his work hours.

The Scottish court heard that Pizza Express had pushed staff to work in celebratory outfits for the company's 60th anniversary.

However, the American employee branded the suggested uniforms “highly offensive”, claiming on the company's internal social media platform, Slice, that they appeared to include images of swastikas.

He posted: “Maybe these should be the new head office uniforms!

"It’s obvious they never consult with the workers who actually have to wear this garbage.”

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Mr Joseph was later asked to attend an informal meeting with Ms McFarlane to discuss the comments, as well as a number of messages he had sent to her about workplace matters.

He was subsequently handed a “letter of concern” about his behaviour and was reminded of Pizza Express's “community code”.

A remark he had made in a WhatsApp group was also raised, where the American employee commented that a colleague appeared as if “he just got dropped off from a Mumbai helpline call centre”.

Mr Joseph's dispute with Mr Tortolano came just weeks after the informal meeting had taken place.

The court was told that the waiter shouted: “Why don’t you just leave, nobody f****** likes you, f****** American, go back to your country, you f****** Yank," at the American employee in front of customers.

Mr Joseph is said to have snapped back: “F*** off bald loser," before referring to the colleague as an "incel".

He later claimed that he was left “hurt and humiliated” by Mr Tortolano's comments in front of diners.

After the heated exchange, Mr Joseph was suspended by his managers and hauled into an internal disciplinary hearing.

He was found guilty of gross misconduct and sacked from his job as a waiter.

Despite tribunal judge Melanie Sangster ruling that Mr Tortolano had racially harassed the American employee, she rejected that Pizza Express's 60th anniversary uniforms had featured Nazi symbols.

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