Manko restaurant in Paris faces racism probe after denying entry to black women
- The venue on the exclusive Avenue Montaigne apologised to the three women who shared their experience on TikTok
- A doorman working at the restaurant was fired after the clip went viral but he said the directives came from ‘managers’
A doorman working at an elite Parisian restaurant embroiled in a racism scandal said on Monday that he was told to refuse entry to non-white customers.
The Manko restaurant and nightclub on the exclusive Avenue Montaigne, a short walk from the Champs-Elysees, is being investigated after video emerged of black women being turned away.
The Peruvian-themed venue denies having a racist policy and has apologised to three shocked women who filmed their experience on July 16 and posted it on TikTok.
“They told me right away ‘you shouldn’t let many Africans in. You shouldn’t let many people from the Maghreb (North Africa) in’,” the doorman seen in the clip told BFM television on Monday.
Named as Damien by the channel, the bouncer was removed after the TikTok clip went viral but he said the directives came from “managers” and he was simply following the “policy of the establishment”.
The women in the video are turned away on the grounds that they are not in “evening wear” – even though they are in dresses and heels.