The TLC member says she and her crew ended up leaving the restaurant in North Brook Township without eating after she was told to move to the bar area because she was wearing a hat, but there's no seat available.
- Sep 2, 2024
AceShowbiz - T-Boz just had a bad day, no thanks to Ruth's Chris. The singer, whose real name is Tionne Watkins, has blasted the restaurant chain following her experience when visiting one of the restaurants located in Illinois.
In a series of videos posted on her Instagram page, the TLC member said she and her crew went to Ruth's Chris in North Brook Township, North Carolina on Saturday, August 31 following a flight. After traveling all day, she opted for a comfortable attire, which included a T-shirt and black hat.
The 54-year-old said she and her party were not greeted upon entry. Twenty minutes after they were seated and placing orders, a manager approached them and she was told to remove her hat, which she refused to do because she didn't have time to style her hair that day.
She was then told that she and her group would have to move the bar area, something she was ultimately willing to do. But before leaving their table, the four-time Grammy Award-winner noticed two black men, also in casual wear and hats, were seated behind her and allowed to finish their meals. When the singer asked why the other guests were allowed to remain seated, she was informed that the men had also been told to move according to house rules.
"My thing is, I don't have a problem with rules, following it, whatever, but it's how you do things, too," T-Boz added. She said multiple staff members saw her hat but did not request she remove it before entering the dining area. "If somebody would have said that, we would have went and did it in the first place," she said.
But that wasn't all. When they were guided to the bar, it was full with no seating available. "Everybody's crew looks like [they're] seated in massa's section," she added in a third video, where she rhetorically asked, "Why [are] all the black people sitting in this section?"
Summing up her experience, she said, "My whole thing is everybody said they felt some weird vibes at this Ruth's Chris, so it seems like all the employees need a little taking to even the ones running it 'cause they ain't running it right, honey." The singer said she and her crew left without eating and that many of the individuals felt "racially profiled."
In the caption, the "No Scrubs" singer wrote, "I Don't Expect Special Treatment But I Expect The RULES To Make Sense... So Make It Make Sense... She Was Contradicting Hersekf And NO ONE DID YHEIR JOB SO WE LEFT AND DIDNT EAT THERE...And A lot Of People In Our Crews Felt Racially Profiled Just Saying ...."
Ruth's Chris has not publicly addressed T-Boz's complaint.