Posted by | Ray Cornelius
The last 24 hours have not been the very best for Academy-award winning actor Forest Whitaker.
This weekend, the mild-manner star entered a busy NYC Upper West Side Milano Market. He then proceeded to leave the store when he was stopped by one of its employees and frisked. Apparently, the store employee thought he saw Whitaker lift something from off the store’s shelf and proceeded to search the actor in front of store patrons. The employee didn’t find anything on him and Whitaker reportedly left the store “angry and embarrassed.”
Now the store has issued an apology for the incident, claiming that it was a mistake and not racially motivated.
“The management of Milano Market deeply regrets the wrongful actions of our employee in stopping and frisking Forest Whitaker,” the rep told the entertainment news site. “While we can not delve into the employee’s mindset, we do not believe that he was racially motivated in his actions, simply misguided.”
No word yet on Whitaker’s response to the apology. His rep did issue a statement earlier saying, “Forest did not call the authorities at the request of the worker who was in fear of losing his employment. Forest asked that, in the future, the store change their behavior and treat the public in a fair and just manner.”
Tell us your thoughts about the incident. Do you think this “Stop and Frisk” was racially motivated?