Apple Sued Over Alleged Racial Discrimination at New York Apple Store

Two African-American men have filed a federal lawsuit against Apple that accuses the company of racial discrimination at an Apple Store in Manhattan.

The plaintiffs, Brian Johnston, 34, and Nile Charles, 25, claim a white Apple employee in his 50s told them, "I don't want 'your kind' hanging out in the store" at Apple's retail outlet at 1981 Broadway on Dec. 9, 2010, according to court filings cited by Apple Insider Wednesday.

Another Apple Store employee allegedly approached the pair, who were wearing "baggy jeans and large sweaters with hoods" according to the lawsuit, and said, "Now you have to go. If you want to know why, it's because I said so. Consider me God. You have to go."

Johnston and Charles entered the Upper West Side store to purchase headphones, the suit said. They recorded the incident on their cell phones, according to Apple Insider.

The first, unidentified employee, reportedly about 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, confronted the pair at about 3:20 p.m., the plaintiffs alleged. The employee allegedly approached Johnston and Charles in an "intimidating fashion" and invaded their "personal space," saying, "You know the deal. You know the deal."

He then allegedly demanded they leave the store unless they were purchasing a product or seeing a Mac Specialist, the suit claims.

"And before you say I'm racially discriminating against you, let me stop you. I am discriminating against you. I don't want 'your kind' hanging out in the store," the employee allegedly told Johnston and Charles.

The plaintiffs were "shocked and humiliated" by the allegedly discriminatory treatment they experienced at the Apple Store.

The suit also alleges that the Apple Store's head of security ignored their request to speak to a manager about the incident.

The lawsuit was filed in February but only spotted by Apple Insider this week when it was moved from New York state court to U.S. District Court.

One commenter on Gawker, which also reported the story, wryly joked that "[y]ou can't expect employees at the Apple Store to be PC."

Apple Sued Over Alleged Racial Discrimination at New York Apple Store | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

They hit the lottery. Apple is gonna settle out of court....quick.

They can't fight a drawn out discrimination suit on the retail level while dealing with claims that they don't hire minorities on the corporate level.

Mutha!!a said consider me god. sounds just like what 1 of them !!s would say.

damn quick flip !!!!!!

You agreed to this, you all agreed to this!!

!! was on the TOS [pic]

Apple has some of the biggest instances of theft and fraud I've ever seen. Employees are told to not do anything if someone swipes an item and just tell a manager. I can see it from both sides-they definitely shouldn't have been approached that way, but at the same time, how long does it take to buy some headphones? If an employee sees someone not needing help but not buying anything, I wouldn't blame them for being suspicious.

i walk in apple to apple to buy a mac book pro cash ready, and i walk in with wiz khalifa hair and black hoodie and ,,,,needless to say took them an hour to help me and horrible customer selling the macbook..white boy didnt want to make eye-contact,,,Overall they were discrimintating me and my dad cause we black nd there is more to the story but too much to explain,,,,did put in a review [pic] hope they fired some people

oh please the apple store is designed for you to stay there they have all them computers and ipods with internet on them and they have free wifi i remeber plenty of times i went there to k!ll some time you cant ask people to leave i hope them 2 get paid !! them apple[..]es

Posted already about a week ago almost

we in the news section? [pic]

[pic] these guys are cashing in

damn i wish i went in and got discriminated against in nj they helpful as hell in garden state plaza they say the same things to everybody wanna check anything out feel free computers there ipods there if you need anything just ask

Smh, you clowns give your money to clowns that dont even want your money or to service you, HA!

Another reason why ill never buy an apple product.

quick come up, hope they win [pic]

Hope that !!er got fired