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A local NAACP leader in Baton Rouge, Lousiana said she was left "humiliated" after she was kicked out of a restaurant because of her outfit, WAFB reports.
Y'Mine McClanahan said she was planning to have lunch at Stab's Prime Steakhouse and Seafood last week when she was booted for violating the restaurant's dress code policy.
”I left feeling kind of mortified, violated, ashamed and really humiliated because I had never had something happen like this to me as a working professional,” McClanahan said. “You feel alienated and it’s like well what’s wrong with me. What’s the problem with me?”
The incident left social media users outraged after McClanahan shared footage of her wearing a floral crop top dress. Video taken by McClanahan shows the co-owner of the restaurant calling her outfit "too revealing" before she was denied service.
”I just wanted to get it on camera why I can’t come in here,” McClanahan said in the video.
“It’s just too revealing up here,” the co-owner responded.
According to the restaurant's website, the dress code policy calls for business casual attire and bans gym wear, sweat pants, tank tops, and revealing clothing.
However, workers can be seen wearing tank tops, shorts, and fishnets in video shared by McClanahan. McClanahan said she was also caught off-guard by the incident because she had worn the same outfit in the restaurant before.
“It’s just very disheartening that there’s no accountability and there’s no remorse for what’s been done to me,” McClanahan said.
The restaurant's owner released a statement addressing the incident.
“We have a dress code policy that we ask our customers to observe. A few times a month we speak with our guests about their attire including asking them to remove baseball hats in our restaurant. Contrary to reports our attire policy is not new, it has been in effect for over three years now. We spoke with a guest yesterday about her attire and she pointed out that we have waitstaff dressed in a manner that might not meet the standard of our attire policy. For the last several weeks we have actually been working on a different uniform so that we are not asking a different standard for our customers than we are requiring of our staff.”
The Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP, in which McClanahan serves as an officer, sent a letter to management of the restaurant requesting to meet with them over the incident.
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