Recently, Serena Williams was denied entry to the rooftop of a famous restaurant she visited with her family. The incident angered the Olympic player. She took it to X on Monday to express her disappointment about the mistreatment she faced, which later became a topic of discussion for the netizens who replied with claims of racism.
Restaurant refuses rooftop entry to Serena Williams
Serena Williams criticized a Persian restaurant that refused her entry to the rooftop despite the restaurant being empty. She tweeted about this incident in a post on the microblogging site, “Yikes @peninsulaparis. I’ve been denied access to the rooftop to eat in an empty restaurant in nicer places, but never with my kids. Always first. #Olympics2024” The Peninsula Hotel, which refused Williams entry, is a five-star luxury hotel famous for fine dining and breathtaking views of the city.
The hotel responded to her complaint a few hours later and clarified the situation. The restaurant wrote, “Dear Mrs. Williams, please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved,” as reported by Page Six. The tennis champion was in Paris for the Olympic Games in 2024.
Netizens react to Williams’s post.
Many netizens shared their opinions on the above-mentioned incident and replied to Williams’s post. One user of X replied, “I always seek to spend my money where I feel welcomed, not tolerated,” while another wrote, “It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Racism doesn’t care, bro.“ A third user wrote, “Did you bring your white husband with you? That might have helped.”
While some accused the hotel of being racist towards Williams, others had different opinions about the incident. Many users accused Williams of race baiting and entitlement. One user wrote, “Now, why don’t you give an apology to the restaurant for acting like an overprivileged brat? So you just expected someone else to lose their seat because you are Serena? Sorry, your privilege card doesn’t work everywhere.” While another said, “Coming on to X to publicly complain and name a Parisian restaurant is pretty tone deaf. A lot of us are just trying to afford groceries these days. I respect celebrities who use their name to help others or animals, not whine about not getting preferential treatment.”
Another user replied to Williams, “Who do you think you are???? If the restaurant is booked, they are not going to dump another table out just for you. Get your team to book you a table next time before writing on X about your arrogance.”
While the internet shared their mixed reaction to Williams’s post, what are your opinions about this incident?
