Viral video shows woman without vaccine passport being refused at Toronto McDonald's

Hell hath no fury like a camera-toting anti-vaxxer scorned, at least not for people working on the front lines at fast food restaurants.

Video footage is picking up steam on Twitter this afternoon of a McDonald's employee in Toronto asking an elderly woman to see her proof-of-vaccine documents, as businesses are now required by law to do for customers who dine inside restaurants.

The clip starts with the customer pulling a wallet out of her backpack and explaining that something had been stolen earlier. She shows an apparent McDonald's worker what looks like a health card or driver's licence.

"Okay, but I need to see your vaccine—" says the worker before abruptly turning to the person filming and asking them to stop. The worker walks away while the elderly woman shouts after her "I have my vaccine, you can call my doctor!"

Emad Guirguis, who filmed the video, tells blogTO that the incident took place Wednesday morning at the McDonald's on the corner of Dufferin and Dupont Streets.

This elderly lady did not have "her papers" and was rejected from dining in at a Toronto McDonald's. She pleaded but was given no mercy, sent out to cold rain instead. @BLNewsMedia @fordnation @JustinTrudeau #segregation #CovidVaxExposed #COVID19 #CovidVaccine #VaccinePassport pic.twitter.com/4tJdcy8uTO

— Emad Guirguis MD (@emadguirguismd) September 22, 2021

Guirguis says that the woman was ultimately rejected from dining inside the McDonald's, consistent with new provincial regulations that mandate the use of vaccine passports at bars, restaurants, gyms, cinemas and other indoor settings deemed to be high-risk for the spread of COVID-19.

The short clip spread fast among anti-masker, anti-vaxxer types, who are holding up as an example of "tyranny" and "discrimination." Some are now calling McDonald's workers "Nazis" and chastising the company for forcing customers to show their "papers" for food.

Their reactions are consistent with others who defy pandemic lockdown measures, whether by marching in the streets or brazenly breaking and fighting the law.

"On first Ontario Day of Segregation, businesses and their employees are asked to do the government's unscientific, illegal, and dirty work," wrote Guirguis in the caption of a second video from the scene, tweeted about an hour after the first.

In that video, Guirguis — a former doctor who no longer has a license to practice medicine in Ontario — argues with a different employee from the Dufferin/Dupont McDonald's.

On first Ontario Day of Segregation, businesses and their employees are asked to do the government’s unscientific, illegal, and dirty work. @BLNewsMedia @JustinTrudeau @fordnation @dockaurG @JeanmarcBenoit #COVID19 #VaccinePassports #segregation #Apartheid #VaccineMandate pic.twitter.com/bj3884X5cn

— Emad Guirguis MD (@emadguirguismd) September 22, 2021

In this second clip, Guirguis and the employee both calmly discuss the situation at hand (which is more than can be said for many people on either side of the political spectrum.)

"Let me be clear then: So if I go in, you're going to allow me to order food, but you're going to kick me out of the restaurant as soon as I order the food… you're going to kick me out of the restaurant because I refuse to share my private medical information," says Guirguis.

The employee explains that she isn't preventing him from ordering food or anything else, only from staying inside to eat.

It goes on like this for a while with each party making calm, coherent arguments. Their tones are almost amicable until the employee tells Guirguis she's "just following orders."

"But the orders are illegal. The government is breaking the law," he replies. "So you're in a position where you obey the government… but at the same time you're also breaking the law."

Visibly frustrated but unfailingly polite as she is repeatedly accused of discrimination, the employee interjects to say "I hear everything that you're saying, but this is above my head," at which point the video cuts out.

McDonald's Canada has yet to reply to a request for comment. As of press time, the original video has racked up nearly 100,000 views in less than three hours.