Two men say they were refused service at a Manhattan McDonald’s because the cashier thought they were gay. But it gets crazier. The New York Post reports the men claim the incident resulted in other customers coming after them like a hungry mob.
Willis Washington Jr. and Horace Stevenson III just wanted some french fries when they stopped into their local McDonald’s at 2:30 a.m. last December. While there, they claim a fellow customer assumed they were gay and began harassing them.
According to their lawsuit, the customer “started to say he had a problem with gay people and that the gay lifestyle was not what God wants.”
Washington and Stevenson ignored the man, but when they got to the counter, they say the cashier joined in the homophobia and refused to serve them.
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How rude.
But that’s just the beginning.
According to the lawsuit, other customers then began pushing the two men to the back of the store, cornering them and prompting a panicked Stevenson to dial 911 before the cashier “actually handed one of the customers a metal pipe from behind the counter and motioned to him that he should hit plaintiffs with it.”
Washington and Stevenson were able to escape unharmed, but returned when they saw police arrive, only to end up in handcuffs after they were falsely blamed for the violent encounter.
Charges were later dismissed against the pair, who say they were “severely humiliated, mentally anguished and emotionally and physically distressed.”
They are now seeking unspecified damages against The Colley Group, the owner of the McDonald’s franchise where the incident occurred.
The Colley Group released a statement to the Huffington Post that read:
“As a business leader, the behavior that is alleged in this case is absolutely inconsistent with our values and would not be acceptable or tolerated in our restaurant. We have not been made aware of any inappropriate behavior by our employees as has been suggested, but we are actively investigating this matter.”
We’ll mark this as reason number 17,947 why we’ll never eat at MickyD’s.
Rockery
That thumbnail is frightening
Spike
What self respecting gay eats at McDonalds?
hyhybt
I’m surprised they’d have that much business at that time.
Caleb in SC
Two-thirty AM and at a MacDonald’s? Drunk (and maybe more) coming back from the bars? This story rings hollow.
Faggot
@Caleb in SC: When it’s not safe to go to a McDonald’s at 2:30 AM in the center of New York City, then we’re all in trouble.
RevJames
@Caleb in SC: Maybe they were coming home from shift work, restaurant or club work, hospital nurses, OR maybe they were drunk. So what. YOU ring hollow to me.
Caleb in SC
@Faggot: Lol!!!
@RevJames: The inability of simple minds to question facts is amazing to me. You may think I am hollow, but I think you want to believe everything you read. Critical thinking has gone out of the window.
Caleb in SC
@RevJames: Even more troubling with this story is that it allegedly happened “LAST December” (emphasis added). So why is this just now coming to light, after almost a year? Again, I am raising the bullshit flag.
wiredpup
@Spike: Poor ones.
wiredpup
Now the McD in my neighborhood actually has a news box outside carrying the local gay rag.
BlogShag
@Spike: What self respecting PERSON eats at McDonalds?. I don’t know of anyone who didn’t think of Ronald McDonald as a child molester. He was creepy from day one.
BlogShag
Yeah, that’s why out here (Southern Califronia)they keep the doors locked after 1opm and just leave the drive through open, and that’s in the SUBURBS!
What idiot would be caught dead at a McDonalds in downtown NY at 2:30am whether they are an employee or TACKY customer?
royster
did you mean the complainants were drunken bargoers or the alleged assailants were? either way, from how the story is presented, it’s a jump in logic. You’re making a presumption, and accusing someone else of believing everything they read as you claim “critical thinking” to defend a presumption is on its face dubious.
Ken
I kept getting soggy Big Macs at various McDonalds, so I switched to McNuggets (not knowing what was in them at the time). I got some that were too hard to chew, so I switched to cheeseburgers. Then I got a cheeseburger that tasted off. I threw it away after one bite. A year after that, I stopped at a McDonalds for an orange soda. After that, I never went to McDonalds unless I was in a group, and then I didn’t eat. The last time I ate at a McDonalds was 1986. I’m not boykotting McDonalds; I just have reasons to live.
One time in conversation with my father, I remarked that the guy who tried to live on McDonalds genuine imitation food damaged his liver. He said, “So that’s why their store managers all have pot bellies and are in their 20s.”
These two men should be grateful that McDonalds denied them service. It injured their dignity but it may have prolonged their lives.
MikeE
@Ken: you are referencing the film “Super-size Me”, and sadly, most of what is in that film isn’t true. The film-maker over-dramatized events to achieve the scandalous results he wanted. Some of his own numbers (for calories, etc…) don’t even match up with reality. So, despite low-sodium warnings, I’d take that film with a large-ish grain of salt.
the other Greg
@MikeE: As bad as McD’s is in so many respects, sometimes I think it gets a little too much negative attention, when you consider that Burger King is SO much worse!
@Caleb in SC: It may seem strange that it took so long for this to make the news, but that’s most likely because the parties were trying to settle out of court. There’s nothing particularly sinister or “bullshit” about that; it happens all the time.
cmhbuck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qKcJF4fOPs