A Black man in Los Angeles returned more than $200 worth of groceries to Whole Foods after a store manager wrongly accused him of shoplifting and demanded his receipt as he sat for a bite in the store’s cafe.
The tense confrontation happened at the Whole Foods in Culver City, a suburb near Venice Beach, the high-end grocery chain confirmed in an email to Atlanta Black Star.
The harassment at the store, located at Jefferson and La Cienega, was captured in a video that has since gone viral on TikTok. None of the parties involved have been identified, though a name tag worn by the Hispanic man who claimed to be the manager identified him as Josue Astl. It’s not clear if he is still employed at the store following what appeared to be a case of racial profiling.
The video starts out showing the manager being encouraged by two security guards to back off an apparent situation that erupted with a Black customer before the camera started rolling.
The Black man can be heard saying that if they wanted to see his receipt to come back, so they turned around and started toward him. From there the video skips forward a beat, next showing the manager flanking the Black man, and doubling back around a bottled water display.
The Black man, holding the camera and walking the other way, can be heard complaining that he was being hounded for no reason.
As the Black man headed to walk out of the store, the manager could be heard in the distance saying, “Don’t come back,” which was met angrily with, “Who the f—k is you?”
The Black man was clearly agitated, calling for a refund and demanding to speak with the manager, but instead of getting another supervisor, the Hispanic man claimed, “I am the manager.”
However, the Black man wasn’t having any more nonsense: “I want the real manager, f—k this!” he growled. The Black man first appeared to be trying to evade the in-store pursuit but then changed course and walked up to address the manager face-to-face. With the camera still rolling, the Black man wanted to get to the bottom of why he was being followed and why he needed to show his receipt.
“Why?” he snapped, putting the manager on his heels. “That’s all of our product right there, if you didn’t pay for it,” he replied but trying not to be confrontational about it. The Black man started threatening to sue the store and Astl for discrimination, causing a scene in the middle of the store.
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