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Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson is suing US hardware store The Home Depot for over $1m (£790,000) after allegedly being racially profiled in one of its stores.
The 44-year-old actor claimed he and two associates were subjected to “outrageous discriminatory mistreatment” during an incident in February.
Gibson has starred as Roman Pearce in seven of the blockbuster films alongside Vin Diesel, Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson.
A lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Wednesday detailed the incident that allegedly occurred in The Home Depot store in West Hills, Los Angeles County.
The suit stated that the cashier had been “very slow scanning items and the process took 20 minutes”.
It is alleged they had then declined to accept Gibson’s credit card to complete the transaction.
When Gibson asked to speak to the manager, he was refused, and was only able to complete his purchase after a “heated discussion”.
The lawsuit said: “Gibson, one of the most recognisable black actors and musicians in the United States, and his associates, craftsmen Mora and Hernandez, experienced outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling first-hand inside The Home Depot retail store.
“While plaintiffs attempted to make an in-store purchase, store clerks purposely interfered with and refused to process the transaction based on their groundless suspicion of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez arising from their skin colour.”
It continued: “Gibson is a long-time customer of The Home Depot and over time he has purchased no less than $1,000,000 (£790,000) worth of materials from the company.
“The actions of the cashier and manager were discriminatory based on race and origin. There is no other plausible explanation for the mistreatment of Plaintiffs.
“The transaction was refused, despite Gibson’s repeated authorisations, because of Plaintiffs’ skin colour and, in the case of Mora and Hernandez, also because of their national origin.
“This is a clear and deplorable instance of discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling.
“The treatment of Gibson, Mora and Hernandez by The Home Depot was humiliating and demeaning.”
In a statement, The Home Depot said: “Diversity and respect for all people are core to who we are, and we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.”
“We value Mr Gibson as a customer, and in the months since this happened, we’ve reached out to him and his attorneys several times to try to resolve his concerns. We will continue to do so.”
