Staff at Illinois Buffalo Wild Wings Fired After Discriminating Against Black People

Several staff members have been fired from a Buffalo Wild Wings in Illinois after they allegedly discriminated against a group of Black parents and their kids.

The incident occurred on Oct. 26 at a restaurant in Naperville, Ill. A large group of mostly Black parents and their children were celebrating a birthday, including Mary Vahl, who initially posted the now-viral Facebook post describing what happened.

When they first arrived, one of the Buffalo Wild Wings staff members asked the group what race they all were and then told them that a regular customer did not like Black people sitting near him. That same staffer said the man was a racist. The group said it would sit there anyway.

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“We knew right away who it was because the guy was staring at us the entire time and giving us looks as we were being seated,” Vahl wrote on Facebook. “As we sit, our waiter greets us and gets some drinks & app orders started. After a few minutes we notice that an employee is talking to the ‘racists table’ and approaches us and communicates to Justin and Marcus ‘these seats are reserved and we will have to move your group.’”

Even though, according to the Naperville Sun, that particular Buffalo Wild Wings location does not take reservations.

The family finally decided to leave after the staff insisted they had to move their table.

“If they don’t value us as people, as human beings, would you want to pay them?” Marcus Riley, one of the people in the group, told the Naperville Sun he asked his kids.

Buffalo Wild Wings said in a statement that it terminated the employees involved in the incident and “banned the customer who exhibited the inappropriate behavior from all Buffalo Wild Wings sports bars for life.”

“Buffalo Wild Wings values an inclusive environment and has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind,” the statement said.

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