America’s first black billionaire refused service at Florida luxury hotel

Even Robert Johnson, who co-founded BET Networks, was still not able to escape racial profiling

Sep 4, 2018

Robert Johnson may be one of the richest black men in the country, but that still doesn’t shield him from the every day pitfalls of racism.

On August 24th, the BET Network co-founder attempted to check into his room at the Eau Palm Beach hotel in Florida after a fishing trip but was refused access into his own room.

A receptionist asked Johnson to remove his sunglasses during the check-in process. According to West Palm Beach’s WPBF, the mogul, who became the first African American billionaire after selling BET in 2001, said he thought the woman was joking at first. But when she remained firm, he explained to her that he couldn’t take them off because they were prescription glasses.

“She said well, I can’t check you in if you don’t take off your glasses,” he said.

As the exchange dragged on, Johnson asked that the police be called to help clear things up, but when no compromise was reached, he ultimately ended up leaving the hotel.

In response to the allegations, Eau Palm Beach spokesperson Nick Gold said it’s “standard operating procedure” in the hospitality industry to ask guests to remove sunglasses for their “safety.”

“It is standard operating procedure in the industry to ask to make sure that the person who is presenting themselves to check-in and they present identification that it does match and if they’re wearing dark glasses with a ball cap low over their face, you want to make sure that it is the same person, much like what would happen at TSA rules going through the airport,” Gold said.

Johnson — who actually owns 165 hotels and is well versed on the hospitality industry — said that explanation was categorically untrue.

“I think it’s a silly rule,” he said, “and I think it has overtones of racial profiling.”

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