Actor claims discrimination at Coach store
Acevedo says salesperson wouldn’t open doors to high-end store in Vancouver to him
Kirk Acevedo, an American actor who stars in the B.C. filmed TV show Arrow, says he was discriminated against at the Coach store in downtown Vancouver.
Acevedo, who is of Puerto Rican descent, wrote Tuesday in a Twitter post that he was outside the luxury-fashion outlet waiting for it to open when a salesperson refused to let him in.
“The salesperson looked me up and down and asked me if I was going to buy anything, and when I said, ‘Did you really just ask me that?’ she proceeded to lock the door on me,” Acevedo wrote.
Acevedo says the store remained locked until a white customer showed up.
“One minute later, a Caucasian woman ... knocks on the door to see if they’re open and (the salesperson) opens the doors for her,” he said.
Acevedo told Postmedia he wasn’t sure what problem the saleswoman had with him.
“You’d have to ask her that. I think she judged me for what I was wearing, thinking I couldn’t afford to buy anything in the store. Either way it’s horrendous and shallow,” he said.
When reached by phone Thursday, an employee at the Vancouver Coach store, who didn’t reveal her name, told Postmedia she wasn’t aware of the incident.
“We have no idea what you are talking about ... and there is absolutely no one here that wants to comment on that,” the employee said before hanging up.
In statement, Coach said one of the company’s core values is inclusion.
“We are deeply committed to diversity and do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We are investigating the issue and will be reaching out to Mr. Acevedo directly,” the statement said.
Acevedo, whose long list of acting credits includes a three-year stint on the Vancouver-filmed series Fringe, said the ironic part was he was wearing a T-shirt featuring Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s colour barrier in 1947.
It’s not the first time a Vancouver high-end retailer has been accused of discrimination. Last year, hip-hop artist Tory Lanez said he was mistreated by a white employee at Holt Renfrew before dropping $35,000 in the store.
As reported by The Georgia Straight, Lanez said, in a now-deleted tweet, that a Holt Renfrew salesperson “tried to play me like I was broke.”
Lanez said the salesperson who eventually got the commission on his sale was black.