Japanese restaurant in Illinois under fire for refusing service to two Black customers

December 30, 2021

An Asian food court stall in Illinois has gone viral on TikTok after an employee refused to serve two Black sisters because of his alleged encounter with another Black person earlier that day.

What happened: TikTok user @labellamonay shared the incident on Sunday, and the clip has been viewed more than 1.1 million times at the time of this writing.

In the two-minute video, the TikTok user confronts an Asian server of Fox Valley Mall’s Nori Japan in Aurora, Illinois, after he allegedly refused to serve the woman’s sister, because she is Black.
@labellamonay argues that her sister is paying the man for her order, but he still refuses to serve her, because a Black customer did not pay for their meal earlier that day.
“‘Cause she’s Black? ‘Cause another Black person took your food and didn’t pay, you’re not going to serve my sister?” the TikTok user asks. “You can’t do that, sir. That’s discrimination. You can’t tell her you’re not going to serve her, ‘cause she’s Black because of what someone else did today.”
“You people no pay money,” the man replies. The TikTok user then asks, “What does that have to do with us? I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir. We’re not affiliated with them.”
“I thought I would never have to do something like this,” the woman can be heard saying in the video. “Well, what’s worse, the person that we don’t know not paying you $5 or us suing you for discrimination?”
The man then replies, “I don’t know. Same face.”

The reaction: Many users’ reactions were divided, with some defending the Asian server and others calling him out for discrimination.

“He’s wrong but I also understand him this man is traumatized and hurt. Understanding should come from both sides,” one TikTok user said.
However, @labellamonay called out everyone who was defending the man by posting another video showing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.”

“I’m half Asian and I’m sick of my people DEFENDING people like him just cuz he’s old and doesn’t speak English much. He’s a grown adult,” a TikTok user wrote.
“I do not understand how y’all are looking at obvious discrimination and choose to defend this man,” another user wrote.

Featured Image via @labellamonay

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