Barneys CEO Says Store Employees Not Responsible for Racial Profiling
Says they didn't inform police or security about any problems with purchases by black customers
Barneys CEO Mark Lee expressed his condolences Tuesday to two customers who alleged racial profiling at his store — but said store employees were not to blame.
"No one, and I mean no individual, should go through the unacceptable experiences described by Trayon Christian and Kayla Phillips … and we offer our deepest sympathies to both," said Lee.
Christian, 19, and Phillips, 21, who are black, both accused Barneys of targeting them after they shopped at the high-end store.
Christian said that he was detained after buying a $349 designer belt in April, while Phillips said she was accused of credit card fraud after buying a $2,500 bag in February.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
This sounds like the "Jay Carney" approach - just assert the opposite of what actually happened.