Tyrese Gibson is suing Home Depot for an incident that he alleges was racial profiling.
In court documents obtained by Variety, Tyrese —as well as Eric Mora and Manuel Hernandez — are suing the company for $1 million for “outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.”
The lawsuit refers specifically to an incident that took place in a Los Angeles Home Depot in February this year, in which Tyrese and his associates ran into technical issues while trying to check out at the store.
As the cashier struggled to complete the trio's order, a crowd formed around Tyrese and he left the store for Eric and Manuel to finish the purchase, allegedly communicating to the cashier that he was doing so.
However, after Eric and Manuel attempted to use Tyrese's credit card to complete the purchase, the cashier allegedly “refused to complete the purchase transaction” and "gave no reasonable explanation other than repeating ‘store policy’ and demanded to see a form of identification."
“The manager refused to speak with Gibson in person," the suit further alleges. "It was only after significant heated discussion with the cashier that Gibson was finally able to complete the transaction.”
"This is a clear and deplorable instance of discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling," the suit later claims. "The treatment of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez by The Home Depot was humiliating and demeaning.”
In a statement to Variety, a Home Depot representative replied 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. We will continue to do so.”
You can read more about the lawsuit's specifics here.
