@cmg781995 All the pretty girls Rock MK #ineedanapology #coach #dragqueen #queen #gay #fyp
Colin Gibbs — a drag performer based in Seattle, Washington — recently got an apology from the high-end fashion and bag retailer Coach after he published 12 TikTok videos detailing how he was handcuffed and wrongly accused of shoplifting from one of the brand’s stores.
In a TikTok video that has over 3.8 million views as of Friday, January 6, Gibbs asked two Coach store employees at the Bellevue Square mall which one of them called the police to accuse him of stealing.
“Was it you?” he asks while pointing at a female employee, “or was it you?” he asks, pointing to a male clerk. They both simultaneously answer, “It’s not important.”
The text overlaid on Gibbs’ video explains that mall police detained him for allegedly “stealing a wallet I purchased a week ago at another [Coach] location.”
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The other Coach store’s employees apparently didn’t remove an anti-theft device from a wallet that he purchased there. Gibbs said he was unaware that it was still inside of it. The device set off the shoplifting alarm at the Bellevue store, causing the employees to alert the police.
In his video, Gibbs asks the employees for the name and number of a Coach manager or corporate employee for him to speak to. When they sheepishly call the incident “unfortunate,” saying their store has lots of trouble with shoplifters, Gibbs replies.
“It is pretty unfortunate,” he says, “because I don’t buy nice things for myself often, and now I buy something nice for myself and you guys accuse me of stealing and I look like I don’t have f*cking money, so… It’s just really disrespectful. But I just want the number and I’ll leave. I know. I’m not trying to cause a disturbance.”
@cmg781995 These lovely employees got me detained at the coach in Bellevue. (Keep in mind my bag has been setting off sensors and nothing had come of it before this) I don’t usually buy #coach and I’m sad to see this is what I get for purchasing nice things for myself. I get #detained for #falseaccusations @Coach
In follow-up videos, Gibbs explained that, after leaving the Bellevue Coach store, he went into Nordstroms to buy a shirt. When leaving Nordstroms, three security guards and two cops confronted him and said, “Put your hands behind your back or we’re gonna drop you.”
He protested, saying that he hadn’t stolen anything, but they handcuffed him amid the busy mall.
“They’re yelling at me, screaming at me, threatening me,” Gibbs said. “They handcuffed me. And then I’m standing in the middle of the mall embarrassed and they’re like, ‘Oh well, bring more to the side not to embarrass him.’ Oh, thank you so much officer. How kind of you!”
He then said the officers interrogated him for 30 minutes “like I’m a damn criminal” while police checked Coach’s security cameras. After being released, he began recording the earlier video of him confronting the store’s employees. He later called the employees “snobby” and “condescending.”
Gibbs initially said the store refused to give him the manager’s and employees’ names, refused to issue a formal apology, or to have anyone from corporate contact him. He shared a screenshot of his Facebook message to Coach and encouraged his followers to tag Coach in his comments on his video and Coach’s official TikTok account.
“I’m wondering if this is how Coach represents themselves as a brand,” he wrote to Coach on Facebook, “following loyal customers around the store, being rude and snobby to them, getting them wrongfully detained, and then not caring about the repercussions.”
In a final update, Gibbs said that Coach’s West Coast Regional Manager contacted him, sincerely apologized, and said, “Let me know if there’s anything else we could do to like keep you loyal to the brand and keep you as a customer.”
Gibbs was originally planning on returning his purchases to the store and never patronizing them again. But now he feels unsure whether he should or whether he should ask for anything else, though he admits that all he really wanted was a sincere apology.
Overall, Gibbs posted about 16 videos about the incident. Whatever he does next, all high-end brands should be on alert: Never cross a drag queen! They are relentless!
@cmg781995 I’m conflicted #coach #fyp #foryou #k18results #update #story
Neoprene
Oh no! You poor, poor thang. You obviously have PTSD and will need years of therapy, in addition to the years of therapy you needed before this incident.
James
Get lost creep.
Kinkslola
Stupid much?
KyleMichelSullivan
Is it hard work being like that instead of a decent person? I bet not.
bachy
This has actually happened to me, and I’m no drag queen. I had spent the morning shopping in The Grove, and stuffing everything I could into 2 sturdy bags to avoid looking like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. At one point, I started setting off alarms in every shop I walked into. It’s very embarrassing. Shop staff kindly tried to help me find the anti-theft device in various garments, but some of them are hidden and very tricky, and of course some are simply malfunctioning and fail to become deactivated. It put the kibosh on my credit cardelirium.
Fname Optional Lname
Queerty ran a story on a white person who was followed around in a store and falsely accused of stealing. The outrage! Let’s hope this doesn’t start happening to members of marginalized communities.
James
What a stupid negative reply. Let’s hope this happens to you troll.
SDR94103
simmer down, Waheda.
Kinkslola
George Santos we can see you hiding behind the fake name…
Gnarfield
James, getting accused of shoplifting because you look different isn’t something new and happens to a lot of minorities every single time they are in a store. Your reply is more stupid and negative as apparently you are too dense to see the valid point trying to be made.
LumpyPillows
Oddly, the alarm should have gone off when he entered the store…so did he really steal an identical wallet?
inbama
LOL. You may be in the next “Knives Out.”
bachy
Lumpy always brings the sharp insights.
Kangol2
Lumps, the theft-detection devices don’t always go off if they’re not removed, so he very well could have purchased an item with one, walked around with it for a week or two, then entered a store without it going off only to have it beep when he tried to exit the store. Look online if you are curious about this, rather than accusing someone of theft.
LumpyPillows
Kang, just as likely he could have stolen the wallet… With all the attention he’s getting, it’s almost like he planned it.