Houston strip club sued for racial discrimination

Michael's International, a topless bar nicknamed “Chicas Locas” and boasting “the sexiest dancers in all of Houston,” allegedly discriminated against African-American dancers and waitresses, according to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Thursday and reported by KHOU.

The lawsuit states that Bert Stair, an executive for the strip club's parent company, did not like a group of African-American waitresses working there during a visit in September 2007. The KHOU story said:

Specifically, the waitresses said that they were asked to leave work or hide in a back room.

“To at least one of these waitresses he used the ‘N' word and said, ‘What are you doing here? We don't want anymore of these ‘N's working here, we have too many of these ‘N's here already,” said Timothy Bowne, the senior trial attorney on the case for the EEOC.

There is no official comment from Michael's about the lawsuit but a manager said he was shocked by the lawsuit because the club now markets itself as multi-racial.

A sign outside the topless bar, located at 6440 Southwest Freeway, offers dollar deals, and the club plays mostly reggatone and Latin music, according to its MySpace page.

http://blog.chron.com/newswatch/2011/07/…