MONTREAL - A Montreal man is accusing doormen at a Montreal bar of racial discrimination.
Tristan D. Lalla was out Wednesday night to celebrate the debut of his film Happy Slapping at the Montreal Film Festival.
That celebration was shortlived when not one, but two bouncers at his regular drinking establishment refused to let the actor and his friends inside even though there was plenty of seating available.
Both doormen said that members of the group did not meet the dress code at Saint Sulpice because they were dressed in "le style hip hop."
While three members of the group were wearing baseball caps, one was wearing an Expos jersey, and several were wearing baggy jeans, Lalla doesn't believe that explanation for a second, because he was at the St. Denis bar a few days earlier with another group of friends who were similarly dressed.
The difference? Sunday's group of friends was predominantly white, while Wednesday's was mostly black.
"I've seen guys in Saint Sulpice, young white guys dressed as Eminem. They're dressed in the style hip hop but they don't get stopped at the door," said Lalla.
In fact Lalla says the second doorman who refused them entry was dressed in "a baseball cap, a t-shirt with a polo short sleeve over it, some scruffy looking loose-fit blue jeans, and a pair of beat up black & green Nike sneakers," an outfit very similar to three members of his group.
Not wanting to stay quiet about the incident, Lalla made his complaint public by writing about it, and has since been told of many other similar cases at bars across Montreal.
"This is a much deeper incident than just one guy at one bar," said Lalla. "I know a lot of bars have these unspoken policies where they say 'you're not up to the dress code tonight.'"
CTV News has attempted to contact the bar, as has Lalla, but so far managers at Saint Sulpice have refused to comment.
