One man's offensive feelings about a newlywed couple are now forever on tape, as the cameraman for Stan Gocman and Claudia Ressler's wedding ccidentally left several anti-Jewish rants on the unedited version of the video he sent them, the Daily Mail reports.
To make matters worse, the couple received their tape almost a year late, after videographer Anthony Aurelius sent them an entirely different couple's video nine months earlier.
When the video finally arrived, it was so poorly edited that the newlyweds agreed to pay extra for the unedited version, which so happened to include Aurelius's ill feelings towards Jewish people that, unbeknowst to him, had been captured on the film's audio.
From calling the bride "not very attractive," to remarking, "Some of the Jewish women are very beautiful to look at. But I can tell you, they'd be right f***ing cows. Very f***ing snooty, they'd be a pain in the ass. There's not a lot of niceness about them is there? Very little warmth," the couple was shocked and saddened to hear such remarks in the background of footage from their special day.
"It's completely anti-Semitic and ignorant," Claudia told the Daily Mail. "We didn't want anything fancy or worthy of an Oscar, just a documentation of the day. At first, I was really upset but then I was furious. I think he's a disgusting little man. I can't even stand to watch the video, it makes me so angry."
Aurelius can also be heard complaining about his clients opting for a cheaper package deal for their video and then allegedly daring to complain about the quality. His assistant later adds his own thoughts: "They are the meanest people in the world."
At one point in the footage, as Aurelius and his assistant are filming inside the festivities, Aurelius can be heard telling his assistant on the subject of the Holocaust, "I don't think I blame Hitler."
The north London couple said that the anti-Semitic remarks ruined the happy memories of their wedding, which they told Aurelius in an email they sent to him.
In response, Aurelius wrote a hand-written letter asking for the couple's forgiveness, including a check which fully refunded them, and a follow-up email in which he expanded upon his initial apology.
"I am very sorry for offending you and possibly your family also. You did not deserve this. I am ashamed, in honesty," he wrote in the email. "I have felt awful about this and did not know what to say, in truth. We know, in truth, very little about what went on in the war. To be deeply honest, I respect your strength as a culture from coming back from this. I am trying to walk a good life, but in this instance I failed very badly in God's eyes. I need to grow up here it seems and pay more attention to developing my character. This has taught me a lot to grow up in terms of not just my actions, but what I say."
Click here to see photos of Stan and Claudia Gocman, as well as pictures of Anthony Aurelius and his hand-written apology letter.
