On Sept. 16, three women were visiting New York City and decided to dine at the famous Carmine’s Italian on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. That part is true. But what’s now in dispute were the first stories that came out claiming the three women beat up a hostess for requiring that they prove they were vaccinated per New York City’s recent COVID mandate.
But that story, the story of these barbaric unmasked women who accosted a helpless hostess went so far out into the ether that the hashtag #AsATexan trended on Twitter, in which Texans were apologizing to New York for the behavior of these women.
Well, it turns out that much like Tory Lanez’s new hair growth, DaBaby’s apology to the LGBTQ community, and the cops’ inability to find the white boy who went on that hiking trip with his fiancèe and came back alone, this too is bullshit.
Wait, the women were Black...Hol’ up.
An aside: If you are a new reader to The Root, let me tell you something about Black women. First, they are the group most likely to wear masks and get vaccinated because they don’t fuck with germs. Hell, they won’t even eat office potluck, have an infinity for calling out things as “nasty” and are allergic to most conspiracy theories that involve white men. They are also the backbone of the Democratic Party, which is another way of saying the vaccination party. So we, at The Root, were immediately calling bullshit on this story. But this isn’t about us, it’s about them.
Maybe because no one talked to the Black women involved in the dustup or cared enough to actually report their stories, but it turns out that all three women—Kaeita Rankin, 44, her niece Tyonnie Rankin, 21, and a friend, Sally Lewis, 49—showed proof of vaccination and were actually seated before all hell broke loose.
Don’t believe me? Well, an attorney for the women told NBC News that this was the case and...wait for it….the restaurant agreed with this version of events.
Turns out that the real story didn’t involve fisticuffs until three men attempted to join the women a little later.
I’ll let NBC News explain it:
A Carmine’s spokesman said all three men had failed to provide any proof of vaccination. Attorneys for the women said that all three had vaccination cards but that two didn’t have identification and also needed to be allowed inside.
All six people were about to leave before the manager intervened and allowed them all to dine, said Dallas-based lawyer Justin Moore, who represents Kaeita Rankin, and New York criminal defense lawyer Javier Solano, who represents all three women.
The confrontation happened as the party was re-entering Carmine’s, the women’s attorneys said.
“This hostess was exhibiting some hostile aggression toward the three women, separate from this vaccine narrative that’s been put out to the public,” Moore said Monday. “A racial slur was uttered numerous times by the hostess, and one of the women claims the hostess called her a monkey.”
The restaurant disputes the claim that the hostess was hostile and says that the three men weren’t allowed into the restaurant because they didn’t have proof of vaccination and that the Black women just started beating people up because of rap music. OK, fine. No one blamed rap music but it feels like a fair connection because, of course, these Black women just started throwing unprovoked hands.
“Three female guests in the party who had shown proof of vaccination and been welcomed into the restaurant without issue then launched an entirely unprovoked, brutal attack on our hosts, one of whom continues to suffer from a concussion,” according to a restaurant statement, NBC News notes. “None of the attackers offered any reason for their attack. None of the hosts—all of whom are people of color—uttered a racial slur. “
The three hosts working that night were a Black woman, an Asian American woman and a Latina, NBC News reports.
All three of the Texas women received tickets for the altercation, alleging third-degree misdemeanor assault and must face a judge in New York City next month.
“I don’t expect anything to come of it,” their attorney said. “I really do hope that cooler heads prevail, that the district attorney’s office has an opportunity to investigate this case before [the next court date] and that they dismiss the case.”
Black Lives Matter activists have begun protesting outside of Carmine’s—or, as that one hotel worker put it when he refused to give a room to a racist, “It’s above me now.”