Oct 20, 2009 6:08 am US/Eastern
Author Says NYC Club Barred Blacks From Book Party
Novelist Teri Woods Claims SoHo Night Club 'Greenhouse' Wouldn't Let Her Guests In Because Of Their Race
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
Screen shot of author Teri Woods' Web site, teriwoodspublishing.com.
teriwoodspublishing.com
What started off as a night of celebration for a top urban fiction author ended in a billion-dollar lawsuit against a Manhattan nightclub. More than 100 people claim they were left in the cold because of their race, but the business is telling a different story.
Author Teri Woods has an attorney and she's out for blood. The popular novelist of books like "Dutch" and "Alibi" claims her August 6 book party at the upscale "Greenhouse" club in SoHo was ruined because most of the guests weren't allowed past the front door.
Video taken that night shows irate party-goers left outside the club.
Woods has filed a class action racial bias lawsuit against the popular eco-friendly club.
"This was my book party. I'm doing business. My publisher's there. They have gift bags to give away books," she told CBS 2, saying they wouldn't let in many of her guests because they were black.
The place opens at 10 p.m. and closes at 4 a.m., and in the wee hours you can find yourself out on the sidewalk on the wrong side of a velvet rope hoping for admission and a chance, in this case, to pay way too much for organic vodka. Management is intentionally selective on criteria known only to themselves, but on this particular night the people excluded from the club feel the one common denominator was their race.
"The number of people that were excluded from this club who are black screams loudly of racism, I'm convinced of it, there's no doubt in my mind and I'm sure a jury will find it the same way," said attorney John Monnenacher.
An employee at Greenhouse, who declined to give his name, said Monday the bias charge was absurd.
"We entertain everybody from Jay-Z and Russell Simmons, to Diddy, to openly gay actors and actresses as well. I mean there's no discrimination at our event here," he said.
Woods said club owner Barry Mullineaux sent out text messages the next day complaining about her guests seeking admission, referring to them as "your people."
She claims that's code.
"At the end of the day, what's 'your people?' Diseased yaks? Black folks? 'Your people,' Barry?" she said.
Even at exclusive nightclubs certain types of discrimination are illegal. Racial bias cases have been brought against clubs in the midwest and the south, but to our knowledge this the first case of it's kind in New York City.
An official statement from the club management issued a statement Monday night calling the allegations "grossly false" and said the club caters to "a variety of patrons of all races, religions, creeds, and sexual orientations."
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
World's Most Useless Facts
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments