Atlanta Hawks legend and basketball Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins says he was denied entry at an Atlanta restaurant due to the color of his skin.
Wilkins made the accusation on social media over the weekend, tweeting how he has never gone to a restaurant and felt prejudice or denied service due to his skin color until he went to Le Bilboquet in Atlanta.
The backlash from Wilkins, and others who claim they have had similar experiences, led the restaurant to put out a statement via its Facebook page denying that their decision was not based on race, but rather a dress code.
“We, at Le Bilboquet, do our best to accommodate all of our guests,” the statement read. “However, we have received consistent complaints from our patrons regarding other guest’s wardrobe choices. As a result, to protect our restaurant’s culture, we installed a minimum standard in our ‘business casual’ attire dress code which includes jeans and sneakers but prohibits baseball caps and athletic clothing including sweat pants and tops.”
Wilkins said the folks working at the restaurant “looked me up and down … and to add insult, talked about how my clothes were not appropriate when I was wearing designer casual pants and a shirt.”
Others on social media shared similar stories about the restaurant to Wilkins, who began retweeting other reviews accusing the establishment of racism.
Meanwhile, the restaurant appears to be considering a revision of the dress code, according to TMZ Sports.
“Though the definition of ‘casual’ is ever evolving, we strive to maintain our policy requirement daily, but it isn’t a perfect system,” it said.
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