(Warzer Jaff)
Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker said he was falsely accused of shoplifting inside a Manhattan deli — and even frisked by a suspicious employee.
Whitaker, who won an Oscar for his role in 2006’s “The Last King of Scotland,” said he was heading out of Milano Market in Morningside Heights Friday when a worker stopped him and gave him the humiliating public pat-down.
“This was an upsetting incident, given the fact that Forest did nothing more than walk into the deli,” said Whitaker’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Plante.
“Forest did not call the authorities at the request of the worker who was in fear of losing his employment.”
Instead, he asked that “the store change their behavior and treat the public in a fair and just manner,” Plante said in a statement.
The star — in town filming “Black Nativity,” co-starring Jennifer Hudson and Angela Bassett — popped into the store on upper Broadway to buy a yogurt before work, according to a source.
Whitaker didn’t find what he wanted in the market that stands in the shadow of Columbia University, and was heading toward the exit when a worker told him to wait.
“They stopped him and said, ‘You took something,’ ” the source said.
After failing to find contraband, Whitaker was allowed to leave. Police were not called.
His driver, Reggie Crupe, said he was parked outside waiting when the actor came out.
“An employee came outside to speak with him and to apologize,” Crupe said.
“He told Mr. Whitaker that the cameras in the store were at a bad angle and that he could not see if Forest had stolen anything.”
The employee even offered the actor free food to make up for what happened, Crupe added.
Several store employees emphatically denied the incident, and even claimed not to know who Whitaker was, even though the 6-foot-2, 220-pound actor has appeared on television and in dozens of movies in his career dating back to the 1980s.
But one ex-customer claimed he experienced what he considered racist treatment at Milano.
“They didn’t want to serve me coffee,” said Terrell Williams, of Brooklyn. “They claimed they didn’t have any. Then I saw a white man come out with a big cup of coffee.”
Williams, 43, said he found it difficult to believe employees wouldn’t recognize Whitaker.
“For him to be frisked like that, it makes no sense . . . Forest Whitaker is the man. That is pure insanity. How can you stop and frisk that man?” he asked.
Brooklynite Tony Rodriguez, 26, said he’s gone through exactly what Whitaker allegedly experienced.
“You never want situations like that to happen. You are being judged because of your skin color, even if it’s not blatant,” he said. “If he came in and was looking around, and just walked out, that’s considered suspicious for black people. As a black man I personally experienced this kind of thing. You would think New York would be above that.”
Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford and Kate Kowsh