Two local men tell 2 On Your Side they want an apology from the owner of the Curtiss Hotel in downtown Buffalo, claiming they were racially discriminated against.
One of the men recorded and posted a video on Facebook of his confrontation with hotel management.
Over the past several weeks since the alleged incident, in the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 11, the video garnered more than 45,000 views and 969 shares.
A number of outraged Facebook users tagged Channel 2 in the comments section, asking 2 On Your Side to look into it.
The video is attached to a post on the Facebook profile of Anfernee Moore of Buffalo. The post states "Curtis hotel is racist ...that's crazy." It's less than two minutes long.
But what it shows in that amount of time is Moore questioning security and a manager, at the high-end hotel, about why he and a friend were kicked out.
A security guard in the video can be heard saying, "They can refuse anyone they want." Moore's followup question: "But what did I do?"
2 On Your Side's Emily Lampa tracked down 21 year-old Anfernee Moore to ask him why he recorded the confrontation on his phone. He said, "I see a lot of videos on Facebook and I realized like, 'Hey, my word is only but so strong, but a video is forever evidence.'"
2 on Your Side reached out to the Curtiss Hotel, as well as hotel owner Mark Croce, multiple times over the past month, looking for their side of this story.
On Feb. 13, two days after the reported incident, the Curtiss Hotel sent Channel 2 the following response:
Emily Lampa,
Thank you for your interest in the Curtiss Hotel. We have reviewed the information and the video that you provided to us. The video clip you provided does not reflect the entirety of this "late night" encounter. This isolated situation has been taken out of context. We have otherwise considered this incident, and our current hotel policies, and are satisfied that the actions of our personnel and our hotel policies are appropriate and non-discriminatory.
2 On Your Side asked if they could provide more of that "context," but in the weeks following there was no further response to our followup requests for information.
Anfernee Moore tells 2 On Your Side that he and a friend, 24 year-old Dyneal Cummings, went to the Curtiss Hotel on Feb. 11 to go to VUE, the hotel's rooftop lounge.
"At the door, we didn't even get to the lobby, they say, 'I-D's?'" explains Moore. "After he (security guard) looks at mine he says, 'You can't have chains, you can't have chains out.' I attempted to tuck them in. He said, 'No you can't tuck them in, they have to be in the car.'"
Cummings claims he was allowed into the lobby at that time, "Figured I would run to the bathroom real quick before we go upstairs before he come back in. As soon as I get in the bathroom, I hear a knocking at the door. I open the door. The guy just says, 'You have to go.' So, I'm asking like, 'For what reason do I have to go?' He's like, 'Oh, you just need to go,' like 'this isn't a public restroom.' 'Well, I'm not here to use the restroom.'"
Moore says when he found out his friend was kicked out he went into the lobby to find out why, and he had his cell phone ready to record.
The video shows Moore asking a number of questions. He repeatedly asks security and a hotel manager what he did that prompted security to kick them out.
A hotel manager can be heard on the video saying, "Okay, first it was a dress code violation. Then you're obviously intoxicated or under the influence of something."
Moore and Cummings tell 2 On Your Side they had not used drugs or had anything to drink prior to going to the Curtiss Hotel.
A search of the Curtiss Hotel website shows a dress code for VUE. It states "Dress to Impress, Casual Upscale Dress Code, Always in effect!"
Moore could be heard in the video asking, "I want to come here...so, what's the dress code?" The hotel manager responded, "Well, I'm telling you...You're under the influence or intoxicated or something, but you're not coming in here, tonight."
2 On Your Side asked the hotel what exactly the dress code requires and bans. We did not get a response.
Civil rights lawyer, Steven Cohen, says businesses in New York do have a right to reject people based on attire. He also states there is no law in place that mandates dress codes requirements be publicly posted.
"If they don't like you because you are wearing loud colors," explains Cohen, "they can exclude you. That's not one of the protected classes."
According to New York State Human Rights Law, dress code can be illegal if it's used to discriminate based on race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, gender, disability or marital status.
"People often associated with these big heavy gold chains are African Americans," explain Cohen. "So, it would be for a finder of fact, a judge or a jury, to determine...were these people being excluded because he was wearing a chain or because he was African American?"
Also in the recorded exchange, Moore can be heard asking if he can pay for a room at the hotel. The hotel manager can be heard refusing.
Moore tells Channel 2, "I was really flabbergasted. I was really upset about it."
Cummings adds, "It was mindblowing."
Dyneal Cummings admits he's been to the Curtiss Hotel before, "I took one of my lady friends. We went to the bar...We went to the bar. Had a drink, and we just left. We just wanted to check out the bar downstairs."
But both men tell 2 On Your Side they want to know why this time was different.
"I think that him taking out his phone was exactly the right thing to do," says Cohen. "People now, don't believe that something happened unless they see video or hear audio. Now, I didn't see what happened before this video was shot. If they had been acting inappropriately and were excluded on that basis, that would be a legitimate basis to exclude somebody for acting out."
2 On Your Side did request, multiple times, to see the hotel's surveillance video. But those requests also went unanswered.
We documented how many times we contacted, or attempted to contact, the Curtiss hotel to get their side of this story.
Between e-mails, text messages, phone calls, Facebook direct messages, and going directly to the hotel...2 On Your Side reached out to Curtiss Hotel and owner Mark Croce a total of 31 times.