Here is the complaint recently filed by plaintiff Michael Douglas against Bleecker Kitchen & Co. and its co-owner (and owner of Gold Bar) Joshua Berkowitz.
Plaintiff – who is bi-racial (mixed Black and Asian Asian ancestry) – asserts, among other things, that Berkowitz made derogatory comments about black people, in violation of the New York City Human Rights Law.
For example, plaintiff alleges that Berkowitz asked who a new “darker girl” (referring to a new server trainee) was, and told plainitff that “people with big butts” – which plaintiff alleges is a “coded reference[] to black people” – “don’t work hard” and “don’t work fast”.
Plaintiff also alleges that Berkowitz reacted negatively upon learning of plaintiff’s bi-racial ancestry.