South Carolina’s barbecue chain is being accused of racism and sexual harassment after it was fired its general manager.
A lawsuit was filed by a Black woman who worked at Maurice’s Piggie Park BBQ in Columbia. The general manager Jeff Harrison coerced her into a sexual relationship last year with the promise of a raise.
She claims she left him after he became “irate” at her refusal of his sexual advances. Because she is a victim of sexual abuse, the Associated Press won’t name her.
Wooden also filed a separate suit last month against Damien Wooden, another Black ex-employee. Wooden claims Harrison left him racist voicemails, including slurs, and threatened to break his jaw. Harrison told Harrison to stop harassing and calling the female employee who quit.
These lawsuits seek undisclosed damages and accuse Harrison and the company of negligent supervision. Harrison is also accused of inflicting emotional distress, assault, and battery.
After leaving messages Wednesday night with multiple phone numbers and an email address, the AP didn’t respond to them.
The AP was told by a company receptionist that Maurice’s Piggie Park Barbecue had no comment. Lloyd Bessinger , the president of the company, stated to ABC Columbia News, that the company “doesn’t condone or allow any sexual or racial behaviour.”
Bessinger stated in the statement that Harrison was fired “immediately” after hearing of Harrison’s behavior. We are a family-owned business that has been providing great barbecue for 60 years and supports the community.
However, the lawyers for the plaintiffs claimed that the incidents prove that the leaders aren’t learning from their past bigotry.
In 1964, Piggie Park Drive-In’s waitress refused to serve two Black customers’ orders. Maurice Bessinger, the owner of the Piggie Park Drive-In in Chicago, refused to serve Black customers within his stores. This was based on his religious opposition towards racial integration. A federal judge ruled that such beliefs could not be practiced “in total disregard of the clear constitutional rights other citizens” in 1966, marking a victory for civil rights.
In a 1968 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court called Bessinger’s religious freedom argument “patently futile” and established that attorneys’ fees could be awarded plaintiffs in civil rights cases.
Bessinger, who was opposed to the removal of the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Capitol dome in 2000, displayed it outside all of his restaurants. Walmart banned its famous mustard-based barbecue sauce from the chain during a boycott led by The State newspaper. According to Bessinger, it cost him $20M.
Bakari Sellers, a former Democratic lieutenant governor nominee and civil rights attorney, said that “it’s a cultural problem more than anything else” and that they have not done enough. It just shows that there is still a lot of work to be done, to put it mildly.
