Bob Johnson, B.E.T’s co-founder, was refused access to his room at a luxury hotel in Florida last week because he was wearing sunglasses, RawStory reported.
Johnson was checking into his room at the Eau Palm Beach hotel on August 24 after a fishing trip when a receptionist asked him to remove his sunglasses.
The media mogul, who became the first black billionaire after selling BET in 2001, refused to take them off because they’re prescription, he told WPBF.
“She said well, I can’t check you in if you don’t take off your glasses,” he said.
Johnson asked that the police be called and when no compromise was reached, he left the hotel, the report states.
An Eau Palm Beach spokesperson said it’s “standard operating procedure” in the hospitality industry to ask guests to remove sunglasses for their “safety,” but Johnson — who owns 165 hotels — said that’s not true.
“I think it’s a silly rule,” he said, “and I think it has overtones of racial profiling.”
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