(Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
When Sherri Shepherd blasted a Staples worker for racial profiling earlier this year, the employee was fired after an investigation. And now, the ex-worker is suing Shepherd along with CBS and Wendy Williams for publicizing the matter.
Janice Reyes was working at the office supply store in Los Angeles when Shepherd came inside with a friend to buy a notebook. They needed to use the restroom and claimed Reyes prevented them from entering.
“At @Staples w my girlfriend buying a notebook asked 2use bathroom& was told we need to go to #RiteAid bc toilets were broken – they weren’t,” Shepherd tweeted in a February thread. “I checked bathroom @Staples & it wasn’t broken – asked cashier why she lied & she said their policy is to not let people use who don’t buy. Told @Staples cashier I was buying & she should’ve stated the policy she then starts screaming ‘I am not going to take this SH*T from you.’ Cashier @Staples just starts screaming profanities at my girlfriend & I and walks off the register – I have NEVER been treated w profanity.”
In documents obtained by TMZ Wednesday, July 18, Reyes acknowledged she said, “I’m not taking this s—” and walked away. But claims Shepherd and her friend confronted her as she was ringing them up, calling her a liar and accusing her of racism.
The incident cost her her job and Reyes said her firing was blamed on her swearing. However, Reyes believes the racism aspect is the true reason she was given the pink slip.
As a result, she’s suing CBS for an “Inside Edition” episode that covered the story and Wendy Williams for also covering the incident. Reyes seeks lost wages and other damages in the suit and also filed an additional complaint listing Shepherd as a defendant.
Shepherd has not publicly responded to the filing.
