Suit Claims Celebrity Haunt Used Facebook, MySpace to Weed Out Minorities

[Blue_Tires]

Suit Claims Celebrity Haunt Used Facebook, MySpace to Weed Out Minorities
Bowlmor and Its Club Has Been Popular With Paris Hilton


The owner of a bowling alley and nightclub popular with Manhattan's trendy crowd allegedly used networking sites Facebook and MySpace to screen out minorities and others he felt weren't desirable for his club, according to a lawsuit filed by former employees.

Five ex-employees of Bowlmor Lanes in Manhattan's Union Square sued owner Tom Shannon claiming they were dismissed because of discrimination that ranged from their race, their gender, or the fact that one was pregnant as well as a minority.

In depositions included in their suit, the one-time Bowlmor workers detailed how Shannon allegedly also discriminated against certain people who would be allowed into the Carnival Night Club above the bowling lanes, where celebrities ranging from swimmer Michael Phelps to Paris Hilton are known to be photographed.

According to the lawsuit filed in July, Shannon was "very upset at the 'diversity' in his club and wanted to make more changes to ensure that the 'diversity' in the club was halted."

In the lawsuit obtained by ABC News, Alice Rosenaur, Christopher Falletta, Denish Sheomber, Shavone Boston and Troy Sacco state that Shannon " instructed to 'obtain patrons' information and then search them in social networking sites to see how they looked, dressed, or where they lived, all in an effort to deny those from certain racial groups.'"

The alleged screening began in February after a series of fights that needing police assistance were reported at the club, according to the suit.

Falletta's deposition stated that after the violent incidents, he and others met with senior level management to discuss ways of excluding certain people from their events. Falletta noted that a dress code was immediately enacted to "specifically weed out certain racial groups under the guise of selectively not allowing admittance to guests who wore baseball caps, sports jerseys, oversized jeans or Timberland boots."

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Technology/bowlmor-lanes-tom-shannon-allegedly-facebook-myspace-weed/story?id=11410667