OAN Staff Katherine Mosack and Brooke Mallory
4:39 PM – Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Campbell’s Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Martin Bally, is now on temporary leave following an investigation into a recorded rant where he is accused of belittling the company, in addition to slamming its products and customers.
The leave follows a recent lawsuit filed by Robert Garza, a former remote cybersecurity analyst at Campbell’s.
Garza filed a wrongful termination suit on November 20th, claiming to have recorded a meeting in which Bally made disparaging remarks about the company, its products, and customers — including one comment where he asserted that Campbell’s food products are “for poor people.”
In statements to the media, the company described the comments as “unacceptable” and not reflective of its values, while noting that Bally “works in IT and has nothing to do with how we make our food.”
Garza, the former remote employee, further alleges in the lawsuit that he was fired on January 30th in retaliation for reporting the VP’s “offensive comments.”
In November last year, the two men held a meeting that Garza believed would focus on his salary. Instead, the discussion turned into a lengthy rant about the company. Garza later released an audio clip that he claims captures that very conversation.
“We have sh*t for f**king poor people. Who buys our sh*t? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore,” Bally allegedly said during the 75-minute-long recording. “I don’t buy f**king Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s unhealthy now that I know what the f**k’s in it … Bioengineered meat. I don’t want to eat a f**king piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer.”
The suit also alleges that Bally’s Indian colleagues were dragged into the conversation.
“F**king Indians don’t know a f**king thing,” he also allegedly declared in the recording. “They couldn’t think for their f**king selves.”
Additionally, the legal filing describes how Bally had allegedly admitted to coming to work high from eating marijuana edibles, which was also captured in the recording.
Garza’s attorney, Zachary Runyan, told WDIV that his client had repeatedly raised concerns about the conduct internally and sought assistance from company leadership long before his termination.
“He went to his boss and said, ‘Martin is saying this about Indian co-workers we have, he’s saying this about people who buy our food, who keep our company open, and I don’t think that should be allowed,’” Runyan remarked to the station. “And the response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous.”
Garza contends that Campbell’s and its HR department never followed up on his formal complaint and knowingly permitted a racially hostile work environment to persist. He maintains that his termination was wrongful and notes that he has remained unemployed for the past ten months.
A Campbell’s spokesperson later reiterated that Bally is on temporary leave while the company conducts an internal investigation.
“If the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company. We were not aware of the recording,” Campbell’s said in a statement. “We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use. The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”
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