Elijah Henderson
Lake City, FL — A Denny’s restaurant in Lake City, Florida is under fire after an African-American man exposed apparent racial discrimination that he and his companions experienced from one of its employees. Elijah Henderson Jr. said a waitress allegedly refused to provide service to them because they are Black.Last Friday, Henderson, together with his church group of about 25 people, went to Denny’s and asked a waitress to seat them.
The waitress said she would not be able to accommodate them because they were understaffed with only one cashier and one cook. However, after a little while, a different large group was seated and well-accommodated.
Henderson, who is an African American, claims it was a case of racial discrimination.
“Is it the color of my skin? That’s where I left it at. Is that a problem? Because everybody else was eating and drinking, and she was, like, ‘I am not going to be able to accommodate you all,'” Henderson told News4JAX.
Henderson also shared the incident on Facebook through a live stream video. In the video that appears to have been deleted, he said, “I feel as since I’m African American, that’s why she doesn’t feel like she should accommodate us.
“I don’t understand. I am not trying to understand, the only thing I do know is that they are wrong, they are wrong for how they treated us. Point blank, I don’t care what you look like, or where you come from, I just want equality,” he added.
Meanwhile, Henderson said Denny’s chief operating officer personally talked to him through a phone call and apologized.
The restaurant also issued an apology statement saying, “We were shocked by the unacceptable experience our guests received recently at our Lake City, Florida, location, and sincerely apologize. We simply do not tolerate discrimination of any kind in our restaurants.”
Denny’s also said that it has completed its investigation and the waitress involved in the incident has already been terminated.
Watch the local news coverage: