A Louis Vuitton store manager is being sued for racial comments, reports the Mirror. The reason? A manager of the Central London shop reportedly told an African employee, "Black people are slaves who eat dirt off the floor."
Which, wow.
According to sales associate Oliver Koffi, his manager went on a rant in the store's stock room in front of other staff members after they'd gotten into a discussion about the origins of the English language.
In addition to the wildly offensive comment, his manager allegedly called President Obama a "muppet," adding that America would be in better hands with "Miss Piggy" in office because "Muslim people... don't eat pork."
Koffi, who is now suing LV for racist discrimination and harassment, says he was mortified by the racial slurs. "This comment was grossly offensive and extremely humiliating," Koffi said. "His reference to slavery in this day and age with regards to black people is quite frankly revolting."
When Koffi approached his store manager, who has since left the company following a disciplinary proceeding, he was told the comments were meant to be a "joke."
According to Koffi, who recorded the conversation, his manager also ranted about other races and religions. “All of his comments were derogatory and a clear illustration of his prejudices towards other races and religions," he said. He added that his store manager has made numerous comments about race in the past, including referring to customers by their skin color and saying LV products were "shit" because they were "made in China."
Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton has responded to the issue, saying that the label has "a zero-tolerance policy to harassment of any kind" and that this is in "total violation of the Louis Vuitton Ethical charter."
The case is slated to be presented to a Central London Employment Tribunal on July 18.
