The US actor and singer Tyrese Gibson is demanding more than $1m from Home Depot after he says staffers at one of the American hardware giant’s stores racially discriminated against him and two of his workers.
Gibson’s lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, recounts how he and two men who regularly provide construction services for the Fast & Furious actor went to a Home Depot in West Hills, California, on 11 February to buy some materials for a building project at the entertainer’s home.
A cashier purportedly took 20 minutes scanning the group’s items at the register, and fellow shoppers began recognizing and coming up to Gibson, according to the lawsuit, which had been reported on widely in the US media by Friday and Saturday. So Gibson told the cashier that his companions – Eric Mora and Manuel Hernandez – would finish the purchase with his credit card while he would go wait in his car to avoid creating a disturbance.
However, the store would not accept the credit card from Mora and Hernandez, saying Gibson had to come back into the store and provide identification to be allowed to buy the materials, according to the lawsuit. That was the store’s stance even after Gibson provided permission to use the credit card on a video phone call that he received from Mora and Hernandez after they started being given trouble at the register, the suit maintained.
Gibson did go back in the store and engaged in what his lawsuit described as a “significant heated discussion with the cashier” before he could buy his items. The actor published a cellphone video of that discussion on his Instagram on Friday.
The store supervisor, meanwhile, refused to speak with Gibson despite a request to do so, according to the lawsuit.
Ultimately, Gibson, who is Black, as well as Mora and Hernandez – who are Mexican – concluded that “the actions of the cashier and manager were discriminatory based on race and origin”, the lawsuit added.
The three men drafted their complaint against Home Depot and filed it in a state courthouse in Los Angeles, saying the $1m-plus in damages which they seek are compensation for a “humiliating and demeaning” encounter as well as a “clear and deplorable instance of discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling”, both of which are unconstitutional.
“There is no other plausible explanation for the mistreatment of plaintiffs,” the lawsuit said. “The transaction was refused, despite Gibson’s repeated authorizations, because of plaintiffs’ skin color and, in the case of Mora and Hernandez, also because of their national origin.”
Gibson, Mora and Hernandez’s lawsuit also contends that Home Depot demonstrated negligence in hiring, screening, training, supervising and retaining the employees with whom the plaintiffs dealt.
In a statement obtained by NBC News, a Home Depot spokesperson said the chain does not tolerate discrimination in “any form”. The spokesperson also insisted that Home Depot valued Gibson as a customer and that the $331bn company had tried “to resolve his concerns” through several overtures to him and his attorneys.
Gibson issued his own statement to NBC News about the lawsuit against Home Depot which called Mora and Hernandez “an integral part” of his team.
They “have made significant contributions to my visions for over a decade”, Gibson’s statement continued. “Together, we ardently uphold our commitments to civil rights, promoting empathy and understanding.
“Standing united against organizations like the Home Depot, we envision a world free from discriminatory practices and consumer racial profiling.”
Beside acting, Gibson is also known for his various musical albums, including his 1998 self-titled debut, which peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100.