from Business Insider:
- An Atlanta restaurant has apologizedto a Black couple after they were kicked out of the restaurant for not adhering to the dress code.
- William Johnson, a Black man, was said to have been asked to leave Umi Sushi in Atlanta on October 23 for wearing Nike Air Force 1 sneakers, which violates the restaurant’s dress code.
- A video that captured the incident showed another woman seated at the restaurant who was wearing tennis shoes.
- “This is pure racism,” Johnson said in the video.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The owner of Umi Sushi in Atlanta has apologized for an incident at the restaurant last week that prompted accusations of discrimination.
William Johnson, a Black man, was said to have been asked to leave the restaurant on October 23 because his Nike Air Force 1 sneakers violated the restaurant’s dress code. A video taken by Johnson’s wife, Kaylan Colbert, that captured the incident showed another woman, who appeared to be white, seated at the restaurant bar while wearing tennis shoes.
In the video, Johnson pointed out the woman’s sneakers and accused the restaurant of being inconsistent with the enforcement of the dress code.
“This is pure racism,” he said. “She has on Adidas.”
Colbert appeared on Fox 5 after the incident and said she and her husband felt discriminated against because of their race.
“If you’re going to have rules, they should apply to everyone and not just some people,” Colbert told Fox 5.
Farshid Arshid, described on Umi Sushi’s website as a co-owner, told Fox 5 that the situation should have been handled differently.
“This was completely, 100%, an operational mistake on our end,” Arshid told Fox 5.
Umi Sushi also posted an apology on its website and said it would temporarily close to “reflect” on its “mistake.”
