A 20-year Waffle House employee known as Rockstar Riley says he was fired Friday, Aug. 14, from the Roswell Road location in Sandy Springs after refusing to delete viral rap videos he filmed in his work uniform.

Riley, whose legal name is Edric Riley, told TMZ the termination came after an area manager ordered him to scrub all social media content showing him in his Waffle House uniform. He refused and kept filming. When he showed up for his shift Friday, he was let go.

"Painful, disappointing, and honestly hard to process," Riley told TMZ about the firing.

The dismissal ends a run that started when Riley was 15 years old. He had never worked anywhere else.

A million views, then a phone call

Riley's song "Waffle Options" racked up more than one million views on social media, drawing national attention to the Sandy Springs cook. Complex reported that Riley had recorded eight Waffle House-themed tracks, including "Pull Drop Mark" and "Power Hour," with a plan to pitch the full tape to corporate for placement on restaurant jukeboxes nationwide. Complex's post about the firing drew nearly 30,000 impressions on X within hours of publishing Saturday, Aug. 15.

The trouble started after Riley sat for a TMZ interview and shot a music video on July 14. A couple of days later, his area manager called and told him to delete everything. Riley said no.

He kept shooting content in uniform. On Aug. 14, management told him he was being terminated because he continued making videos with the Waffle House name and building visible.

One month earlier, a different story

In that same July 14 TMZ interview, Riley said he would keep working at Waffle House even if a record label offered him a $1 million deal. He called the restaurant "a community" and "a family," and said he had watched coworkers put their families through college and pay off medical bills while working there.

His original goal was never to leave. He wanted his music on the jukebox.

What's next

Waffle House, headquartered in Norcross, had not responded to TMZ's request for comment as of Saturday, Aug. 15. The chain operates more than 2,000 locations in 25 states with roughly 45,000 hourly employees.

Riley launched a GoFundMe on Aug. 14 to cover living costs and studio time. As of Saturday, the campaign had raised $145.