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Tyrese Gibson is suing Home Depot over alleged racial profiling in one of its stores. On Feb. 11 Gibson who says he has been “living three blocks from here for 10 years” and is a frequent shopper at the West Hills California store. Gibson and the two other plaintiffs, Eric Mora and Manuel Hernandez, is seeking $1 million for experiencing “outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling,” according to a lawsuit filing per PEOPLE.
Tyrese Gibson asked his two associates who regularly do construction for the musician to complete the transaction at the West Hills location when he noticed that fans began to recognize him. The lawsuit claims that Gibson asked Mora and Hernandez to complete purchase on his behalf with his credit card but “the cashier refused to complete the purchase transaction” even after Gibson decided to go back in the store to verify his identity.
Gibson uploaded a 10 minute video that shows part of the encounter to YouTube that shows a FaceTime call with the cashier. While the actor was leaving the store he told the cashier: “I understand policy, but you know you're being extra right now.”
“The cashier gave no reasonable explanation other than repeating ‘store policy' and demanded to see a form of identification,” the lawsuit alleges. “The manager refused to speak with Gibson in person. It was only after significant heated discussion with the cashier that Gibson was finally able to complete the transaction.”
The lawsuit also alleges that the Home Depot employee “purposely interfered with and refused to process the transaction based on their groundless suspicion of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez arising from their skin color, and in the case of Mora and Hernandez, their national origin.”
“My problem with what just happened is I've been living three blocks from here for 10 years, and if this is a policy… Why are you the first person to stop my team and my ability to come in here when I've been coming to this particular Home Depot for 10 years?” he says in the YouTube video.
The lawsuit also claims that The Home Depot “has refused to take any responsibility” for the incident and that the company “doubled down, lawyered-up, and treated Gibson, Mora and Hernandez and what happened to them as not worthy of any due consideration — instead inferring that they are the problem.”
“Gibson, Mora and Hernandez are taking a stand against The Home Depot to hold it accountable,” the lawsuit states. “The company needs to understand that there are consequences for discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.”
Home Depot told PEOPLE in a statement that: “Diversity and respect for all people are core to who we are, and we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.”
“We value Mr. Gibson as a customer, and in the months since this happened, we’ve reached out to him and his attorneys several times to try to resolve his concerns,” the statement continued. “We will continue to do so.”
Gibson has not publicly responded to Home Depot's statement at the time of this writing.
