Phillies vendor fired for involvement in white nationalist movement

Pistachio Girl (MLB)
Pistachio Girl (MLB)

Emily Youcis, who’s better known around Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as “Pistachio Girl,” has been fired from her vendor job after a flood of publicity connecting her with the political movement known as the “alt-right.”

Youcis, 26, was employed by the vending company Aramark, which supplies food vendors for Phillies home games. She spoke publicly about her termination over the weekend, telling “alt-right” network Red Ice TV she was let go because her white nationalist views did not reflect her now former employer’s values.

A statement from Aramark on Monday confirmed her dismissal.

“A core Aramark value is treating everyone with integrity and respect always. That includes respecting our associates’ right to privacy and dealing with personnel matters confidentially. We can only confirm that the individual asked about is no longer employed after publicly connecting our company to views that contradict our values.”

According to Philly.com, Youcis found herself in the middle of a violent protest outside a white-nationalism conference in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 19. Youcis had been attempting to interview protesters who accused the group of supporting anti-Semitism, white supremacy and fascism, which ultimately led to a confrontation. At one point, Youcis reportedly had her hair sprayed with paint, while her cameraman suffered a gash to his forehead.

Youcis was an observer of the conference, not an official attendee, but has been quoted as having increased interest in what she labeled a “white identity movement.” Her involvement in that event gained national attention. It likely also gained the attention of her employer, who moved to act only after she continued supporting the controversial movement on social media.

Youcis rose to a modicum of local fame thanks to her job at Citizens Bank Park and her boisterous personality, which often sometimes lends itself to a vending job.

“The baseball players love me, they all wave to me,” Youcis told the New York Post on Monday. “I was like a God there. I owned that stadium.”

Despite her high opinion of her act, she was far from universally loved. Many fans that came to watch baseball found her shtick annoying.

We’ll let you decide which side you’re on after watching her in action:

Oddly enough, she was no longer selling pistachios after the Phillies discontinued them. She had been selling Cracker Jacks, but the original nickname stuck right up until her firing.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!