American executive calls Indian employees ‘idiots’ in leaked audio, placed on leave
Campbell Soup Company has put one of its top executives on leave while investigating claims that he mocked Indian employees
Campbell Soup Company has put one of its top executives on leave while investigating claims that he mocked Indian employees and insinuated that the company’s products are for “poor” customers.
Martin Bally, Campbell's vice president of information technology, was accused of trashing the company and making racist remarks against Indians in a lawsuit filed by Robert Garza, a former employee who claims he was fired after complaining about Bally.
"Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company," Campbell Soup Company said in a statement to Business Insider. "We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances."
The lawsuit against Bally
On Thursday, Robert Garza filed a lawsuit against Martin Bally in a Michigan court. (Also read: Who is Martin Bally? Campbell Soup Company executive under fire over ‘poor’ customers remark)
Garza, who joined Campbell’s in September 2024 as a cyber security analyst, said he met Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. Bally allegedly used the meeting to make disparaging remarks about the brand.
According to the lawsuit, Bally said Campbell’s was highly processed food for “poor people”. He then went on to make racist comments about Indian employees, calling them “idiots” and saying he disliked working with them.
Garza said he told his manager, JS Aupperle, about the remarks on January 10. He claims Aupperle did not advise him to raise the issue with human resources.
Just a few weeks later, Garza was “abruptly terminated from employment”, according to the lawsuit.
A leaked audio recording
The law firm representing Garza provided Business Insider with what they claim is an audio recording of the meeting that took place between Bally and Garza in November 2024.
"If you look at our f*****g pantry — we have s**t for f****g poor people, right?" a person, believed to be Bally, says in the recording.
"I don't buy f*****g Campbell's products barely anymore," the person continues in the tirade. "It's unhealthy."
“I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.”
Bally also went on to insult Indian colleagues. “F***ing Indians don’t know a f***ing thing. They couldn’t think for their f***ing selves,” he allegedly said.
Campbell Soup defends itself
In a statement to Local 4, Campbell defended itself.
“We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it, and the high-quality ingredients we use,” the company said.
“The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate – they are patently absurd. We use 100% real chicken in our soups. The chicken meat comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
