Facing the camera, she fumbles. "In 2020, in Paris, it shocks me that we do racism," she gets annoyed. The video of a young woman, who accuses the Matignon restaurant located near the Champs-Élysées, in Paris, of discrimination, sparked the anger of thousands of Internet users on Thursday. Especially since this is not the first time that the group to which this establishment belongs, and which has several in the capital, has been accused of having this type of practice.
"We were supposed to have a dinner tonight at the Matignon, everything was supposed to be fine, it's not the first time we've come," she said, filming herself in the street near the restaurant. "But we have an intruder!" », She exclaims, ironically about the presence of one of her veiled friends. "Big act of racism on the part of the restaurant Le Matignon", summarizes the young woman, for the moment unidentified, who used the Instagram account of the hair salon for which she works.
They refused a group of women who had a reservation and the reason is unacceptable pic.twitter.com/OwTgRoFwFE
- I'm doing your TL again (@deessegrr) February 27, 2020According to her, another group of young women, also veiled, was refused for the same reasons during the same evening. Contacted, she had not yet been able to respond to the Parisian this Friday afternoon. Excerpts from the video, posted on Twitter, have already made more than a million views. A wave of indignation followed, with several users calling in particular for a boycott of the Mecca of Parisian evenings.
Negative testimonials online
The site of the Beaumarly group, owner of the restaurant and many other upscale names in the capital, has since been down. Screenshots posted online also showed many one-star ratings on Google, which were aimed at lowering the restaurant's overall rating on the search engine.
Some internet users have also commented by mistake on the page of the hotel in Matignon, where the Prime Minister resides. On Friday, however, some of these notes appeared to be gone. Contacted by Le Parisien, the restaurant did not wish to comment on the controversy.
At least a dozen customer testimonials, dating from before the incident on Wednesday, relay similar stories. "An employee of this restaurant refuses me entry and makes us understand that everyone can enter except me (I was the only French of Arab origin between them)", confided Abdel, on Google, last December.
"They do not accept Chinese and Arabs inside the restaurant," says Nicole, a tourist, who explains that she was abused by a manager of the place. "He told me that because we were not rich, we should eat at Five Guys (note: a fast food chain), " she said in January.
"The typical girls who are less than 165cm have not returned despite the invitation we had received," said Sarah on Trip Advisor in December. "The staff are dismal, discriminating and contemptuous," she annoys herself.
Recurring criticisms of the Beaumarly group
Under these comments, the restaurant often responds by ensuring that its selection is not discrimination. "We understand the fact that it is not pleasant to be refused entry to an establishment but the reasons mentioned are obviously not the right ones", replies for example the customer relations manager of the Beaumarly group to Sarah. Joined by Le Parisien, Beaumarly did not respond to our requests.
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The brand, which oversees the restaurant-club often frequented by celebrities or wealthy customers, is managed by the wealthy Costes brothers, owners of many Parisian restaurants and cafes. It is also to this group that the posh restaurant L'Avenue belongs, which was the subject of a complaint in 2018 for discrimination on entering. The management of the restaurant had then denied all of these accusations and filed a complaint for defamation.
The accusations of discrimination seem to recur within the company. In 2013, "Le Canard Enchaîné" revealed that at the Georges du Center Pompidou restaurant, in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, customers who were deemed ungrateful were placed at the back of the restaurant. A policy then praised by Gilbert Costes, who, according to a testimony of a former hostess, wanted to preserve "the image of the place".
