A group of young Black women say a Cincinnati, Ohio restaurant wouldn’t let them come in because of their hair.
“They did not let us in because of discrimination,” one of the women in the video posted to social media said. They claimed someone at COPA Lounge wouldn’t let them because one of the young women’s “lace [was] showing, referring to their friend’s hairstyle.
“He said that our cousin’s lace was visible and he did not want us to come in, “ the first young lady explains in the video.
In the video, originally posted to the TikTok account@kennedymayes1, the young ladies say they were trying to get brunch at the restaurant but were turned away, “Because of the way he wants us to look,” a woman in the video says, “not as women, Black beautiful women and how we want to look, but how he wants us to look,” her friend says.
“Look how good this girl looks. And our other cousin, her wig cap was showing because the wind was blowing. Look how good she looks,” she emphasizes, pointing the camera to another woman in the car. “Y’all it’s her birthday and we came from out of town. That’s crazy,” she adds.
The women called out the Black owned business directly in the viral video and people have taken to Google reviews in response to the controversy, putting the lowest ratings possible and adding negative reviews against the restaurant. It’s even listed as a public restroom online now.
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