Saleswomen at the Alexander McQueen store in the Meatpacking District subjected an African security guard to such demeaning racism that he harbored thoughts of murdering them and then offing himself, the former store watcher alleges in a blockbuster filing.
Othman Ibela, 22, of the Central African nation Gabon, says the high-end shop’s clerk, Kimberly Mahnke, “repeatedly made jokes about me running nude in Africa with a spear in my hand,” in a recent Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filing. The March papers are the precursor to a suit he plans to file in Manhattan federal court.
Mahnke also allegedly told him President Obama and his wife and two children would be kicked out of the White House and “sent back to Africa” after the 2012 elections.
First Lady Michelle Obama wore a red, silk organza McQueen gown to the Chinese state dinner in 2010, the same year the designer hanged himself in London.
Shop manager Catherine Flynn repeatedly asked him “why Muslims were always killing people” and joked about his accent, saying he sounded like he was speaking Swahili, an East African language that is not used in Ibela’s homeland, according to the complaint.
He also claims that his alleged tormentors ignored black customers, often turning their backs when they entered the showroom.
But with black celebs, they were color blind.
“When Beyoncé came in, everyone wanted to help,” said the former guard.
Ibela was stationed at the West 14th Street boutique from 2011 to 2013 for the security firm SOS. He was so upset by the incessant verbal attacks that he required hospitalization for anxiety attacks and depression, the filing says.
“This is one of the most profound reactions I’ve ever seen to racial harassment,” said Ibela’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Joshua Friedman.
“They attacked me again and again,” Ibela told The Post. “I wanted to kill them and kill myself. Then everybody would be a loser.”
When he asked to be reassigned, his pay was docked and his hours were cut, the EEOC documents state.
He finally quit in January.
Mahnke called the allegations untrue, saying, “There was nothing like that.”
SOS Security did not respond to calls for comment.
A colleague of Flynn’s referred press calls to retail director Gayle Sheck, who did not return messages.