Two hotel employees were fired this week after they were accused of racial profiling.
The incident occurred last weekend at Portland's Doubletree by Hilton, where Jermaine Massey was staying. The Washington resident posted a now-viral video in which he was confronted by two hotel workers while talking on the phone. According to Massey, he had just returned from a Travis Scott concert and became concerned when he noticed a missed call from his mother. He then went to a secluded part of the lobby so he could speak to his mom in privacy; however, hotel security decided to interrupt Massey with baseless allegations.
One of the workers—Earl Meyer, aka Hotel Earl—asked Massey if he was a guest. Massey responded in the affirmative, but Earl wasn't satisfied. The guard proceeded to ask Massey to leave the facility and accused him of posing a safety threat. The cops were eventually called, and Massey was kicked out of the hotel.
Massey claims the hotel manager called the cops before he could even explain what had happened.
"They already had in their minds that they didn’t want me there so I waited for the cops to show up and when they did, I explained my side of the story and they didn’t want to hear it," he wrote on Instagram. "They asked me if I had personal items in my room (which of course I did) and asked me to go retrieve them. They told me that since the hotel requested me to leave, that if I didn’t, I would be considered a trespasser and would be thrown in jail."
Massey accused the hotel staff of racial discrimination, after pointing out that none of the white people in the lobby were approached by security.
"It is never ok to discriminate against guests for the color of their skin and to prejudge them based on your own bias against that race," Massey continued. "Earl is a disgrace, calls himself a man but calls the Portland Police Dept on a man who was minding his own business in the lobby of his hotel. I had my hotel key in my hand the entire conversation, he knew I was a guest. He wanted to prove a point and did it in the worst way. Not really shocked that this happened but just extremely disappointed. I will be seeking justice. Believe that."
Shortly after Massey's videos went viral, Doubletree announced they had placed the guard and manager on leave while the conducted an investigation. On Saturday, the hotel confirmed both employees had been let go.
