American actor and singer Tyrese Gibson, most known for his role in Fast and Furious franchises, has recently filed a lawsuit against Home Depot, demanding $1 million.
Gibson alleges that he and two of his workers, who often handle construction services for the Fast & Furious star, experienced racial discrimination at one of Home Depot’s stores. According to the lawsuit, the incident took place on February 11th when they visited a Home Depot location in West Hills, California, to purchase materials for a construction project at Gibson’s residence.
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The lawsuit was filed last Wednesday – the details read that he, along with two of his workers, visited Home Depot in West Hills, California, on February 11th. The purpose of their visit was to purchase materials essential for a building project at Gibson’s residence.
The cashier at the Home Depot reportedly spent approximately 20 minutes scanning the items purchased by the group at the register. During this time, other shoppers began recognizing Tyrese Gibson and approached him. The incident had garnered significant media attention in the US by Friday and Saturday.
In order to avoid any disturbance in the store, he decided to wait in the car while his associates Eric Mora and Manuel Herandez waited and completed the purchase. Gibson left back his credit card with them for the same.
The cashier, however, refused to accept the credit card without the presence of Gibson, who then made a video call and granted permission that they use the credit card to purchase without his presence. Despite this, the cashier refused to allow the use of the card, and finally, Gibson had to come back to the store to purchase the items.
The lawsuit describes it as a “significant heated discussion with the cashier” before he was allowed to buy the items. Gibson also posted a video of this discussion on his Instagram account on Friday. The lawsuit also mentioned that the store supervisor denied speaking with Gibson despite repeated requests.
Gibson (who is Black), along with Mora and Hernandez (who are of Mexican origin), concluded that “the actions of the cashier and manager were discriminatory based on race and origin,” the lawsuit revealed.
The lawsuit has been filed in a state courthouse in Los Angeles, where they are demanding for over $1 million in damages as compensation what they found “humiliating and demeaning,” and as a response to what they consider a “clear and deplorable instance of discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling,” both of which they say are unconstitutional.
A Home Depot spokesperson has said that Home Depot is against all forms of discrimination and expressed appreciation for Gibson as a customer. The spokesperson also stated that Home Depot had several attempts to address Gibson’s concerns, both through direct communication with him and his legal representatives.
