Managers for the luxury shoe company Gianvito Rossi called tennis star Serena Williams "disgusting" and refused to give her the same discounts as white celebrities, a former employee claims in a stunning new racial discrimination lawsuit.
Whitney Wilburn, who is black, says she was recruited to work for Gianvito Rossi in 2015 from "another Madison Avenue fashion house" where she'd been for five years.
But once she was hired to run the Manhattan boutique, her boss, Grace Mazzilli, was immediately "hostile to Wilburn based upon her race and age," the suit alleges.
Wilburn, 46, claims in the Manhattan civil suit that her "experience with Mazzilli left no doubt about Mazzilli's racial animosity toward African-Americans."
"For instance, when the world famous athlete Serena Williams, via her staff, asked for a discount on her extensive purchases, Gianvito managers responded with racially disparaging comments about Ms.
Williams which made it clear that the company did not want African-American women to wear its shoes," the suit says.
The managers "referred to Ms. Williams as 'disgusting' and refused to offer any discount," according to court papers.
Read more: Tennis: Shoe company accused of racism towards Serena Williams