Houston strip club sued for racial discrimination

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samsung1
Ohio
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/…

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avatar for Dudester
Dudester
13 years ago
This lawsuit won't get far. In the first place, Houston jurors aren't exactly kind to strippers. The evidence is anecdotal and hearsay, and I think the whole point is to try to force a settlement (legalized extortion). I don't think the case will get as far as oen court (without a settlement), and I hope the club lawyers won't settle.

If this case is successful (with or without settlement), the next target will be St. James (big $$$$$). This is clearly a test the waters legal procedure.
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SuperDude
13 years ago
What if it's true?
avatar for sinclair
sinclair
13 years ago
They had a couple token chocolate and vanilla dancers working when I visited, but it is known as a Latin American club: 90% or more of the dancers are Hispanic, almost all of the music is in Spanish, lots of Mexican beer, etc. Most of the clientele speaks Spanish as its first language. As for "the sexiest dancers in all of Houston", that is a definate negative. Almost all of the entertainers are baby factories, aka lots of loose skin on the tummy.
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