UConn Student Apologizes for Mac and Cheese Meltdown
HARTFORD, CT (WTXF) The student with the viral meltdown against food service workers refusing to sell him macaroni and cheese has posted an apology on YouTube.
University of Connecticut student, Luke Gatti, acknowledged in his video that he was ashamed of his drunken behavior after being refused jalepeno-bacon macaroni and cheese that occurred on October 4, 2015.
Police and food service supervisor Dave Robinson said Gatti was refused service because he was carrying an open alcohol container, he was then shown on video arguing with and shoving Robinson.
"Nobody deserves to be treated that way, ever," Gatti says of Robinson in his apology video. "At the time I was, to say the least, very intoxicated."
Gatti titled his apology video to this incident, "Drunk UConn Student Apology Mac and Cheese," and uploaded it to YouTube on Sunday.
The 19-year-old freshman from Bayville, New York, was supposed to have appeared in court Tuesday on charges of breach of peace and criminal trespass stemming from his outburst at the university's student union food court.
"He's a kid that made a bad mistake," Vincent Gatti said. "My son was wrong and feels terrible about this," Vincent Gatti, Luke's father, said of his son's mistake.
Since the mac and cheese outburst, he said, his family has experienced a "barrage of yelling, screaming, cursing, obnoxious, horrible, hateful, spiteful people" in response to his son's actions.
In the apology video, Gatti urges the people wanting to send him packages of mac and cheese to donate them to food pantries instead.
"There's a lot of hungry people out there," he says.
Gatti also says he has personal problems he's addressing and what happened at the student union was a "wakeup call."
Some UConn students have started an online fundraiser to show their support for the food service workers.