A popular Dallas nightspot is under investigation by city officials amid allegations that managers racially discriminated against minorities, ordering workers to deny reservations to callers who “sounded ghetto or too Asian,” according to a former employee, WFAA News 8 reports.
Stephanie Guidy, a former event coordinator at Kung Fu Saloon in Uptown Dallas, told the news station that that managers also enforced an unwritten dress code to deny entrance to minorities, the report says. The city council is investigating the charges, the site says.
“I never saw any white people getting turned away,” Guidry, who worked there from September 2012 to January 2013, told the station.
Further, she charges that managers told employees to screen customers, not only when people arrived in person, but also over the phone, the report says.
“I would have to call them up on the phone and speak to them on the phone,” she said. “And listen to their accent—listen to see if they sounded ghetto or too Asian.”
“Ghetto,” she said, was a code word for black. If so, she reportedly was under orders to say the bar was booked. If she failed, she told the station, “There were comments made to me, like, 'Why is it so dark in here? Why is it so Asian in here? Did you not screen these phone calls?'”
The bar’s alleged practices came to light last month after DeAndre Upshaw announced on social media that he violated an unwritten dress code while wearing the same attire as white customers who were allowed inside, the report says. At the time, managers told News 8 it was investigating the incident and said they serve a diverse crowd. Managers later posted a dress code in compliance with Dallas city codes, the report says.
Read more at WFAA News 8.