Tyrese Gibson is suing The Home Depot. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Gibson, 44, and two men who are described as Gibson’s “regularly provide construction services to Gibson,” claim that during the three’s visit to the company’s West Hills, Calif. store in February, they “experienced outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.” In addition to punitive damages and a declaratory judgment stating that Home Depot’s actions violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, Gibson and two other plaintiffs, Eric Mora and Manuel Hernandez, are seeking over $1 million in damages to reflect the amount Gibson claims he has spent at Home Depot locations over his lifetime. The lawsuit claims that on Feb. 11, Gibson, Mora and Hernandez visited the company’s West Hills location. When Gibson’s fans noticed he was in the store, he decided to wait in his vehicle until the other two men finished their transaction with his credit card.
According to the lawsuit, Gibson told the cashier he would let Mora and Hernandez use his credit card for their purchase, but the cashier refused to do so even after Gibson returned to the store. “The cashier gave no reasonable explanation other than repeating ‘store policy’ and demanded to see a form of identification,” alleges the lawsuit. “The manager refused to speak with Gibson in person. It was only after significant heated discussion with the cashier that Gibson was finally able to complete the transaction.” Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the store employees “purposely interfered with and refused to process the transaction based on their groundless suspicion of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez arising from their skin color, and in the case of Mora and Hernandez, their national origin.”
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The encounter in February appears to have been recorded at least in part by Gibson. YouTube video shows the actor having a FaceTime call with the cashier after he leaves the store, telling her: “I understand policy, but you know you’re being extra right now.” In the 10-minute-long clip, the actor also discusses his frustrations with Home Depot’s retail location, which he has visited for 10 years. “My problem with what just happened is I’ve been living three blocks from here for 10 years, and if this is a policy… Why are you the first person to stop my team and my ability to come in here when I’ve been coming to this particular Home Depot for 10 years?” he is heard saying. A lawsuit against The Home Depot also alleges that the company refused to assume responsibility for the incident and that they “doubled down, lawyered-up, and treated Gibson, Mora, and Hernandez and what happened to them as not worthy of any due consideration instead inferring that they are the problem.”
“Gibson, Mora and Hernandez are taking a stand against The Home Depot to hold it accountable,” the lawsuit reads. “The company needs to understand that there are consequences for discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.” A spokesperson for Home Depot told PEOPLE Thursday, “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,” the statement continued. “We will continue to do so.”
