The Son of a Notorious NYC Landlord Was Caught on Film Berating an Uber Driver

Impact

One of the hardest parts of growing up is leaving home... to build a notorious reputation of one's own.

Jake Croman, the son of an infamous New York City landlord, was caught on camera berating an Uber driver in a slur-filled tirade after the driver cancelled the ride.

Croman's father is the multi-millionaire property mogul Steven Croman, whose practices have repeatedly landed him in hot water with city and state regulators and earned him the honor of being one of the city's worst landlords

Read more: Sprang Breeaaak and the Short, Sexist History of the Wet T-Shirt Contest

But it was Steven's progeny that stole the dubious spotlight on March 23 in Ann Arbor when driver Artur Zawada captured the younger Croman on tape calling him a "faggot fuck," a "little piece of shit" and a "minimum wage faggot" for refusing to drive him and several friends around. The video has been viewed more than 350,000 times.

"Fuck you Artur, you little faggot fuck," Croman says in the video. "You wanna kick me off? Kick me off, you little piece of shit. You're an Uber driver! Go fucking drive, you little fuck! Minimum wage faggot! Go fuck yourself! ... You're working all night! Guess what? I'm gonna sit on my ass and watch TV. Fuck you!"

According to Gothamist, Jake Croman is a member of the University of Michigan's Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity chapter.

In statements to the Tab, spokespeople for the university, the fraternity and Uber have condemned Croman's behavior 

"We are extremely disappointed in the behavior depicted in this video," a university spokesman told the site. "No one should be treated with such disrespect."

For his part, Croman told the Tab the driver refused to pick him up because of his religion. "I am not proud of my reaction to his discrimination and I regret my choice of words. Shortly after the verbal altercation, I filed a complaint with the Ann Arbor Police Department, and they are now dealing with the issue." 

In the comments section of the video, Zawada told the story from his side.

This is 4th time that I have been harassed by this rider and his friends. Nov. Dec. and twice in March. I told him on 3rd occasion that I requested Uber to banned him, but he is/was using friends' accounts. Told him and his friends that I will not take them and that he/they need to get out of my car... For that I was falsely accused, called names etc. 4th time... Rider knew from Uber application who is the driver. He had option to cancel to avoid any issues but he/they proceeded to abuse, [harass], belittle and provoke like kindergarten thugs.

Like his father, whose management of his properties inspired his tenants to launch a flyer campaign warning of allegations he systemically attempts to skirt rent regulations, Jake Croman's name is sullied for good — or at least for as long as Google's algorithm sees fit. 

Soon after the video was posted, JakeCroman.com, "the public warning website about the world famous Michigan/New York City douchebag Jake Croman" went live. 

That'll do it.

h/t Gothamist