Fast And Furious franchise star Tyrese Gibson is suing US hardware store The Home Depot for over a million dollars (£790,000) after allegedly being racially profiled in one of its stores.
The US actor, 44, claimed he and two associates were subjected to “outrageous discriminatory mistreatment” during the incident in February.
Gibson has starred as Roman Pearce in seven of the blockbuster films, alongside Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson.
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday and obtained by the PA news agency detailed the incident that had occurred in The Home Depot store in West Hills, in Los Angeles County.
The suit stated that the store cashier had been “very slow scanning items and the process took twenty minutes”.
They had then refused to accept Gibson’s credit card to complete the transaction.
When Gibson had asked to speak to the manager, he was refused, and was only able to complete his purchase after a “heated discussion” with the cashier.
“Gibson, one of the most recognizable Black actors and musicians in the United States, and his associates, craftsmen Mora and Hernandez, experienced outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling first-hand inside The Home Depot retail store,” the lawsuit stated.
“While Plaintiffs attempted to make an in-store purchase, store clerks purposely interfered with and refused to process the transaction based on their groundless suspicion of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez arising from their skin color.”
It continued: “Gibson is a long-time customer of The Home Depot and over time he has purchased no less than $1,000,000 (£790,000) worth of materials from the company.
“The actions of the cashier and manager were discriminatory based on race and origin. There is no other plausible explanation for the mistreatment of Plaintiffs.
“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.
“This is a clear and deplorable instance of discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.
“The treatment of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez by The Home Depot was humiliating and demeaning.”
Gibson and his associates are seeking damages in an amount “to be proven at trial but believed to be in excess of one million dollars (£790,000),” according to the lawsuit.
