First Barneys, now Barclays.
A trio of black Barclays Center luxury box license-holders claim they were subjected to ugly racism by facility staffers, according to a bombshell $4 million Brooklyn federal court lawsuit filed Thursday.
Ludwig’s Drug Store, of Prospect Heights, purchased rights to the box for three years on October 10 for nearly $1 million – but employees claim that they’ve been treated worse than nosebleed shmoes ever since inking the pricey deal.
Barclays staffers have accused them of skipping out on bills, ignoring their food and drink orders and even dispatching security guards to investigate their box, according to the suit.
The final straw came when they were charged $1,000 for pizza during a recent visit, the suit states.
Pharmacy staffers Glen DeFreitas, Sean Scarborough, and Jermaine Pratt claim that they’ve been singled out for the shoddy treatment because they are black –and argue that other luxury box holders at the home of the Brooklyn Nets are treated like royalty.
“Since the licensing of the box, Glen Defreitas, Jermaine Pratt and Sean Scarborough have been subject to adverse treatment because of their race,” the suit states.
Defreitas alleges that Barclays Senior Vice President of suite and ticket sales Brian Basloe approached him on several occasions to ask why he was hanging around the ritzy portions of the arena.
“Why are you always here?” he asked, according to the suit. “You’ve been coming here a lot.”
Defreitas told him that he had box rights and Basloe backed off, according to the suit. “Sometimes I have to be the bad guy,” Basloe said. “I have a background in law enforcement.”
On Oct. 19, the trio overheard arena staffers on a radio remarking that they were a security threat and that their box should be investigated, the suit states.
But a Barclays strike force invaded the wrong box and forced occupants to the floor to investigate them, the suit charges.
The trio also claims that their treatment was far from luxurious when it came to food and drink.
“They are often ignored by defendants staff and are forced to wait extensive periods of time for their orders to be fulfilled,” the suit states. “Generally their orders arrive hours after they are placed, if they arrive at all.”
On October 26th, they claimed that they ordered pizza for a guest. They waited an hour for it to arrive, were accused of not paying for it, and were then smashed with a $1,000 bill, the suit charges.
A Ludwig’s staffer would not comment on the suit.
The trio claims that they are the only black luxury box licensees at Barclays Center.
“We have neither received legal papers nor any complaints from the suite holder,” Barclays communication director Barry Baum told The Post. “In fact, we have never received a complaint like this since Barclays Center has opened. We have a zero tolerance policy for any type of discriminatory behavior. It is against everything that Barclays Center stands for.
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We take these matters very seriously and will immediately and thoroughly investigate them.”
The rust-colored arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues is the second Jay-Z related venture that has been nailed with racism raps in recent weeks.
The mogul has a business relationship with Barneys — and was skewered for not speaking out after a black customer sued the store saying he was falsely accused of using a stolen credit card to purchase a pricey belt.
The impresario held a minor stake in the Nets but sold his shares earlier this year so he could start a talent management company.
He still owns a small stake in the arena, which he inaugurated with a series of concerts last year.
And Macy’s has also been accused of having shoppers stopped after making purchases with a black couple from Brooklyn filing suit on Wednesday, saying they were racially profiled at the department store giant’s Garden City, LI store.
Barneys CEO Mark Lee publicly apologized to two black shoppers after a meeting with the Rev. Al Sharpton this week, but insisted his staff never racially profiled the pair, dumping the blame on the NYPD, whose officers stopped them after they’d made purchases.
Macy’s issued a statement saying it never racially profiles and would investigate the claims made in the lawsuit by Richard Campbell and Samantha Bynoe.