Adult dancing dives
EEOC accuses Houston strip club of racist policies
Adult dancing dives are no stranger to scandal, but an incident at Michael's International is drawing attention for its racist policies. The debacle is landing Michael's in court thanks to a lawsuit filed on Thursday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
According to a KHOU Channel 11 report, the lawsuit alleges that in 2007 a group of African American waitresses were told to leave the southwest Houston club or hide in a back room when Bert Stair, vice president and secretary of the club's operating agency, Burch Management, arrived to check in at Michael's because he didn't like black employees working there.
"To at least one of these waitresses he used the 'N' word and said, 'What are you doing here? We don't want any more of these 'N's working here, we have too many of these 'N's here already.'"
"States EEOC senior trial attorney Timothy Browne, "To at least one of these waitresses he used the 'N' word and said, 'What are you doing here? We don't want any more of these 'N's working here, we have too many of these 'N's here already.' "
The EEO attempted to settle the claims before filing suit but said the club and its parent company refused to cooperate. Michael's International could not be reached for comment.
A manager at the club, which specializes in Latin American female imports dancing to Reggaeton, salsa and Tejano, told KHOU he was shocked by the suit because the club bills itself a multi-racial. Reads a Yelp.com review, "If you wanna see Latin girls this is the place . . . best strip club I've been in a while."
