Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson is suing US ironmongery store The Home Depot for over $1m (£790,000) after allegedly being racially profiled in considered one of its shops.
The 44-year-old actor claimed he and two associates had been subjected to “outrageous discriminatory mistreatment” throughout an incident in February.
Gibson has starred as Roman Pearce in seven of the blockbuster movies alongside Vin Diesel, Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson.
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday detailed the incident that allegedly occurred in The Home Depot retailer in West Hills, Los Angeles County.
The swimsuit acknowledged that the cashier had been “very slow scanning items and the process took 20 minutes”.
It is alleged that they had then declined to simply accept Gibson’s bank card to finish the transaction.
When Gibson requested to talk to the supervisor, he was refused, and was solely capable of full his buy after a “heated discussion”.
The lawsuit mentioned: “Gibson, one of the most recognisable black actors and musicians in the United States, and his associates, craftsmen Mora and Hernandez, experienced outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling first-hand inside The Home Depot retail store.
“While plaintiffs tried to make an in-store buy, retailer clerks purposely interfered with and refused to course of the transaction primarily based on their groundless suspicion of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez arising from their pores and skin color.”
It continued: “Gibson is a long-time customer of The Home Depot and over time he has purchased no less than $1,000,000 (£790,000) worth of materials from the company.
“The actions of the cashier and supervisor had been discriminatory primarily based on race and origin. There is not any different believable clarification for the mistreatment of Plaintiffs.
“The transaction was refused, despite Gibson’s repeated authorisations, because of Plaintiffs’ skin colour and, in the case of Mora and Hernandez, also because of their national origin.
“This is a transparent and deplorable occasion of discriminatory mistreatment and shopper racial profiling.
“The treatment of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez by The Home Depot was humiliating and demeaning.”
In an announcement, The Home Depot mentioned: “Diversity and respect for all people are core to who we are, and we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.”
“We value Mr Gibson as a customer, and in the months since this happened, we’ve reached out to him and his attorneys several times to try to resolve his concerns. We will continue to do so.”
Content Source: information.sky.com