did you know that the owner of the heart
attack grill was sued for harassment by
a former employee and that's not the
only scandal for this las vegas eatery
to learn more about its controversies
keep watching
nurses waiting tables at the heart
attack grill are dressed in cleavage
bearing translucent clothes and high
heels besides serving customers their
fatty burgers and sugary sodas they are
expected to spank those who don't finish
their meal with a paddle while some
customers love it enough to request a
spanking even if their plate is swept
clean there is a whole set of
professionals who take offense to it the
sexy nurse stereotype is hounded the
nursing profession for a while and the
heart attack grill is sadly propagating
it which some nursing groups took
exception to when the restaurant first
opened in arizona some nursing
organizations called it an insult to
their profession they lodged complaints
with the arizona attorney general's
office urging the owner of the
restaurant john basso to change the
demeaning dress code that contributes
negatively to how actual nurses are seen
by the public basso impervious to these
concerns told the denver post if
anything i think it glorifies nurses to
be thought of as a physically attractive
and desirable individual nobody wants to
think of themselves as some old battle
axe who changes bedpans for a living
as per a former employee's reddit post
the medically themed restaurant has
customers step on a stage that sounds an
alarm if they weigh over 350 pounds
signaling a round of applause and free
burgers their way in the restaurant's
ads they reduced the side effects of
eating their high-fat food into a cheeky
two-liner that reads our food may
include sudden weight gain repeated
increase of wardrobe size back pain male
breast growth loss of sexual partners
lung cancer tooth decay liver sclerosis
stroke and an inability to see your
penis while the marketing technique
brought in business it didn't sit well
with some like sarah parsons who filed
an online petition in 2010 asking the
restaurant to stop perpetuating obesity
parsons wrote more than 64 of american
adults are overweight or obese it's a
public health crisis that's reached
epidemic proportions and everyone from
doctors to government officials to
non-profits have been working round the
clock to come up with solutions parsons
blamed the heart attack grill for
undermining these efforts and urged
consumers to tell baso to stop giving
away those free burgers to those over
350 pounds basso however believes that
he's doing something noble spreading
awareness about obesity albeit in an
unconventional way baso told yahoo life
i do more to combat the obesity epidemic
than any other individual in the country
including the surgeon general
by the time the heart attack grill
opened its dallas branch in 2011 the
news about the shockingly unhealthy menu
that it served in its first location in
arizona was well known some dallas
residents were irked by the fact that
their neighborhood eatery would be a
chain that encourages obesity referring
to the restaurant's free food for
customers over 350 pounds policy laurel
wright a weight loss advocate told d
magazine you don't have to be encouraged
or get praised for weighing 350 pounds
obesity is a huge problem you feel like
you have no hope i think the message
that heart attack grill is giving obese
people is disgusting however the dallas
location was short-lived shutting its
doors within four months of its launch
because of rent issues the previous
location in chandler arizona also closed
its doors mysteriously in 2011 and all
that was let known was that the founder
was in dispute with the city about the
restaurant's color of paint for the
restaurant that sells burgers to die for
the death of its spokesperson in 2011
was proof of what they preached the
restaurant's 29 year old spokesperson
who weighed 575 pounds died because of
flu-related complications a year after
he had started promoting the massive
burgers at the restaurant blair river
was first diagnosed with the flu which
worsened and led to pneumonia and death
the heart attack grill founder john
basso while continuing to serve a
scarily high-fat menu blamed obesity for
the young man's death basso told abc
news had he had been thinner he most
probably would have survived that
pneumonia ironic much since basso's
restaurant meals were very much part of
river's diet though riper was three
times his ideal weight and doctors urged
him to lose weight he considered himself
healthy but obesity as some studies have
shown dampens the chances of recovery
from flu the death of an employee did
not move basso to revise his menu basso
told abc news we are absolutely guilty
of glorifying obesity that's what i do
for a living i make a mockery of heart
related issues in order to sell
hamburgers we are
the bad boys of hamburgers the
restaurant's name heart attack grill
became an uncomfortable truth after its
second spokesperson though unofficial
died of a heart attack john aleman
passed out right in front of the diner
on las vegas boulevard while waiting at
the bus stop unlike the restaurant's
previous spokesperson who was obese
ailman weighed only 180 pounds having
said that he was at a higher risk of a
heart attack as he had a genetic
predisposition for cardiac problems
according to john basso basso also cited
both of ailman's parents as having died
from heart attacks according to a study
published in the new england journal of
medicine ailment likely could have
mitigated the risk by adopting a healthy
diet among other lifestyle changes sadly
hillman's diet was probably far from
healthy given he was a regular at the
heart attack grill basso told the las
vegas son he never missed a day even on
christmas he lived ate and breathed the
heart attack grill while basso did
acknowledge that the restaurant's
unofficial mascot's death was a wake-up
call it wouldn't stop them from selling
their 5 000 plus calorie burgers
the triple bypass burger contains three
half pound beef patties cooked in lard
with a topping of chili onion tomato and
cheese while gnoshing on the triple
patty burger at the heart attack grill a
40-something customer had to be rushed
to the hospital after having an apparent
heart attack as reported on fox news the
paramedics team had to cart him away
from the restaurant which ironically
uses wheelchairs to will people out as a
gimmick in the room that we're sitting
in we've had three heart attacks and how
many people have died one anyhow the
incident had officials of the physicians
committee for responsible medicine a
washington dc-based anti-meat advocacy
group expressed its extreme disapproval
of the vegas eatery they sent a letter
to the owner john basso urging him to
shut down the restaurant by declaring
bankruptcy of a unique kind moral
bankruptcy to this vasso said a hard no
while also defending his restaurant as a
place where people can be themselves
without being judged for what they eat
or weigh he also went a little further
and said it was not him but the doctors
who are to be blamed for america's
obesity epidemic neither this incident
nor the one a couple of months after
where another customer suffered from a
similar medical issue while having a
double bypass burger led to any
alteration of the menu
john basso has built a business around
the fatality of eating extreme junk food
while he has never held back from saying
that his food can kill in 2013 he went a
step further by showing up at an
interview with what he said were the
cremated remains of a customer who had
died of a heart attack at his restaurant
he placed the clear bag of ash on the
table during the interview on
bloomberg's in the loop show saying i
wish that burger king mcdonald's and
everyone else would do the same thing
basil calls himself a performance artist
who is simply using a shocking way to
spread awareness about obesity he told
yahoo life i'm the luckiest guy in the
world because i'm able to be an artist
burgers are just the price of the ticket
for the show basso says he looks forward
to the day when his restaurant would
have no visitors in the meantime he's
happy doing what he does telling
bloomberg i make good money joking about
how bad my food is i'm here to tell you
straight up that i'm i'm here to make a
buck a former employee told reddit that
the work environment was unorthodox
unprofessional and chaotic according to
our posts the waitresses are asked to
dress in skimpy nurse uniforms and are
talked down to by customers the former
employee wrote on reddit our uniforms
were provocative therefore in their
minds we were all brainless according to
an active employees account on vice
spanking customers who don't finish
their meal can get awkward in one case
the customer used it as an excuse to
make inappropriate advances at her then
there is that underlying feeling of
guilt about contributing to the
unhealthy lifestyle the former employee
wrote on reddit every day we would have
five to ten people come in who actually
qualify for the free meal and that's
when i would feel bad about contributing
to their bad health i've called an
ambulance three times for customers
who've had coronaries
while already wading through a mire of
controversies another scandal to hit the
heart attack grill was a sexual
harassment lawsuit against john basso a
former employee at the restaurant jamie
lee accused basso of sending her a nude
photo and some inappropriate texts
according to a report by ktnc las vegas
lee who had joined the restaurant in
2011 was repeatedly pressured by the
restaurant owner to return his feelings
for her when she didn't he resorted to
yelling and crying the former employee
said that quitting was also not an
option for her as vassa wouldn't allow
it he reportedly said that he was a
jealous sociopath and even threatened
legal action against the employee
according to the lawsuit vaso wrote a
message to lee that read as a further
courtesy in case you were not thinking
clearly you were under contractual
obligation not to make any adverse
public or private statements against the
company or myself according to the
lawsuit lee was fired from the
restaurant after rebuffing basso's
advances in march 2020 a judge threw out
most of the charges with an order for
lee to refile the lawsuit in april 2020
the two parties settled out of court
check out one of our newest videos right
here plus even more mashed videos about
your favorite restaurants are coming
soon subscribe to our youtube channel
and hit the bell so you don't miss a
single one
[Music]