Forest Whitaker Gets Apology From NY Deli

[garbon]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/forest-whitaker-gets-apology-ny-deli-200156859--abc-news-celebrities.html

The owner of a Manhattan deli, where Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker was accused of shoplifting and frisked, has apologized and says the employee who patted down the actor is "no longer with us."

Speaking to "TMZ Live," Anthony Galofaro, the owner of Milano Market, expressed his regret over Friday's incident and offered to "make a donation to a charity of Mr. Whitaker's choice to rectify this wrongdoing."

He said the employee who stopped the actor outside the deli was a "decent man" who was "just doing his job."

"We have a lot of shoplifters here," Galofaro said Monday. "It was very busy. He thought (Whitaker) took something and he wasn't sure."

The worker later apologized, but Galofaro said the man, a longtime employee, is "no longer here with us. ... He doesn't want to come here, that's how much hurt he is. ...It was a sincere mistake."

Still, Galofaro said he was unsure whether he would take the man back. "My job is to make sure this won't happen again," he said, adding that he is taking steps to retrain workers.

He also insisted that the incident had nothing to do with race. "It hurts me more than anything else what I've been hearing in the papers," he said about the accusations of racism.

Whitaker's rep, Jennifer Plante, did not respond immediately to ABCNews.com's request for comment, but she spoke out about the incident over the weekend.

"This was an upsetting incident given the fact that Forest did nothing more than walk into the deli," Plante told the New York Daily News. "What is most unfortunate about this situation is the inappropriate way store employees are treating patrons of their establishment."

According to Plante, the 51-year-old actor who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of dictator Idi Amin, opted not to call the cops over the incident, in part, because the worker was afraid of getting fired.

"Forest asked that, in the future, the store change their behavior and treat the public in a fair and just manner," she said.

Whitaker produced the Sundance standout "Fruitvale," based on the true story of a 22-year-old unarmed black man who was killed by a Bay Area transit policeman.

I think I'd raise hell if a deli employee tried to feel me up.

[Barrister]

I'm of two thoughts:

-on the one hand, shoplifting is a fact.  Stores are entitled to try and stop it, and are occasionally going to make mistakes in doing so.  even though I am not required to, I would have no problem with letting any LPO look through my bag if asked.

-on the other hand - pat down searches?  Sorry, you're not entitled to do them, and I'm not consenting.

[garbon]

-on the other hand - pat down searches?  Sorry, you're not entitled to do them, and I'm not consenting.

Exactly.

[The Brain]

If he did in fact win an Oscar why is he doing his own shopping?

[CountDeMoney]

I think I'd raise hell if a deli employee tried to feel me up.

I think I'd raise hell with anybody that didn't recognize I was Forest Whitaker.  For Christ's sake, the brother's one of the most recognizable people in Hollywood, what with that lazy eye and all.  But that's New York sometimes.
And a pat down?  That takes some seriously stupid balls to do on anybody, let alone somebody as big as Forest Whitaker.  A person not named Forest Whitaker would've laid him the fuck out.

[Eddie Teach]

-on the other hand - pat down searches?  Sorry, you're not entitled to do them, and I'm not consenting.

Maybe he's lonely?

[Caliga]

I think I'd raise hell with anybody that didn't recognize I was Forest Whitaker.  For Christ's sake, the brother's one of the most recognizable people in Hollywood, what with that lazy eye and all.  But that's New York sometimes.

OTOH, if you didn't immediately recognize him, you might think he looked like a crazy homeless guy since... he looks like Forest Whitaker.

[Phillip V]

Inside the deli:

[Valmy]

Man I would take one look, see it was Idi Amin, and let him take whatever he wanted.

[The Brain]

Don't delis have panic rooms for when a black man walks in?

[Admiral Yi]

I'm of two thoughts:

-on the one hand, shoplifting is a fact.  Stores are entitled to try and stop it, and are occasionally going to make mistakes in doing so.  even though I am not required to, I would have no problem with letting any LPO look through my bag if asked.

-on the other hand - pat down searches?  Sorry, you're not entitled to do them, and I'm not consenting.

The employee thought he saw a salami in Forrest's trousers.

[derspiess]

Don't delis have panic rooms for when a black man walks in?

Yeah.  It's usually the organic aisle.

[CountDeMoney]

I think I'd raise hell with anybody that didn't recognize I was Forest Whitaker.  For Christ's sake, the brother's one of the most recognizable people in Hollywood, what with that lazy eye and all.  But that's New York sometimes.

OTOH, if you didn't immediately recognize him, you might think he looked like a crazy homeless guy since... he looks like Forest Whitaker.

Well, it is New York.  Sorta reminds me of that short-lived Michael Moore show years ago, where they did a segment that had a well dressed Yaphet Kotto trying to hail a cab in New York, and all the foreign-born cabbies passing him by to pick up a white guy that did time in four different prisons a hundred feet past him.  Even with signs he was holding that said "Yaphet Kotto" and then "Yaphet Kotto, Famous Actor", they'd still pass him to pick up the white convict instead.

[garbon]

Why were you watching a Michael Moore show?

[crazy canuck]

Why were you watching a Michael Moore show?

They were hilarious.  Short run unfortunately.  He then went on to make the docucomedies you love to hate.  I think  Roger and Me was the only one he had made before the TV show.