Edric “Rockstar Riley” Riley says Waffle House fired him after his viral rap video blew up.
Riley, who performed under the stage name Rockstar Riley, said he was terminated after showing up for his shift last week at a Sandy Springs, Georgia location where he had worked for two decades. The firing came just as his homemade rap video — filmed in the restaurant’s kitchen in full uniform — was racking up millions of views and earning him a glowing profile on CBS News.
The video, which appears to have been shot by a customer, shows Riley rapping enthusiastically about the chain he dubbed “The Waffy” while colleagues grin in the background. He touts the All-Star breakfast, praises the chain’s famous 24/7 reliability, and urges viewers to “go stop at your local Waffle House!!!!”
“Welcome to The Waffy, where you know that we got options/ You can get the All-Star breakfast that comes with a waffle,” Riley raps in the clip.
“When everything else closing come to us cause we stay open/ America’s greatest diner still growing, y’all can’t stop it,” he continues, celebrating the chain’s refusal to close except under extreme circumstances.
The footage pans around to show customers smiling and grooving along with his breakfast-themed rhymes. “Yes I’m the king of The Waffy,” Riley declares. “Tell me ’bout the taste that you crave for the day imma whip it up quick as you want.”
Riley had been previously warned to delete social media posts showing him in his Waffle House uniform, but he refused and kept creating content until he was fired. Riley says he was told he was being let go because he continued to make content in the uniform and make videos with Waffle House in them.
The termination hit hard for Riley, who said Waffle House was his first job as a teenager. Despite the abrupt end to his 20-year tenure, he said he’d still jump at the chance to work with the chain on an official commercial.
“I’m not going to lie, if that opportunity came, I would love to do it hands down,” Riley said. “I love Waffle House.”
In the viral moment that started it all, Riley filmed himself behind the counter in his yellow Waffle House uniform, rapping about hash browns and hospitality to a hip-hop beat while the restaurant buzzed around him. The clip exploded online after being shared by viewers who praised his energy and marketing instincts, with one viral tweet declaring “Bruh. Waffle House employee lowkey made a HIT. Record this professionally & make this a commercial asap @WaffleHouse.”
After his firing, Riley launched a GoFundMe campaign that has raised over $1,700. In the fundraiser description, he wrote about his shock at how the company responded to his viral moment.
“I gave that company years of loyalty, hard work, and dedication,” Riley wrote in the GoFundMe. “My video helped bring them attention and better sales.”
“Instead of feeling supported or appreciated, I was let go. After everything I poured into that job, this has been painful, disappointing, and honestly hard to process.”
Waffle House has not publicly addressed Riley’s firing and did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.