Home Depot is pulling out its big guns to discredit Tyrese’s racial discrimination lawsuit. The blockbuster actor, who can’t seem to stay out of headlines, recently filed a $1 million civil complaint asserting one of the hardware store’s cashiers treated him poorly because of his race, but the retail giant says that’s not the truth—and they can prove it.
According to TMZ, the store’s corporate lawyers state in legal documents that they have video evidence showing Tyrese’s story was untrue and that any confusion or agitation was brought on by his own actions. Home Depot alleges Tyrese came to the store, did some shopping and brought many of those items to their store’s cash register.
While at the register, the cashier scanned the items, but Tyrese wasn’t ready. He left everything he brought up there and went back to get more. He continued shopping for an additional 25 minutes. During that time, the cashier had to void his transaction. Tyrese was livid and took to social media to complain. He initially said the problem was not him shopping for a longer time, but that a computer glitch causing the delay.
Once there was a delay at the register, people started to recognize him, making him feel uncomfortable. He then left the store, leaving his two assistants to complete the transaction with his credit card. He says he also told the cashier that his helpers were going to finish buying all the stuff. Home Depot disputes this, asserting their surveillance camera shows that he never had a face-to-face interaction with the cashier regarding this.
Tyrese said he also used FaceTime to authorize his assistants to use his card with the cashier from outside the store. However, the cashier insisted he return to the register with his I.D. Home Depot employees argued FaceTime was inadequate. Subsequently, Tyrese had to come back pay for the items, which led to a heated exchange. Eventually, the “Sweet Lady” recording artist provided his I.D. for the transaction to proceed.
The multi-hyphenate is no stranger to the store. He said in an interview with DJ Envy, Charlamagne the God and Jess Hilarious, that the place was like Disneyland for him. The hope is that a judge, after seeing their evidence, will toss out his seven figure claim.