Victoria's Secret has fired an Alabama employee after a customer went viral in a Facebook Live video in which she said she was racially profiled.
AL.com reported that Kimberly Houzah, who is African American, posted a a Facebook Live video Wednesday in which she said she was at Victoria's Secret in Quintard Mall in Oxford, Alabama, about 60 miles east of Birmingham.
Houzah said another black woman was caught shoplifting when the manager of the store, whom Houzah identified as "Faith," asked her and another black woman to leave the store.
"I never, never thought in a million years that that would happen to me," Houzah said in the video. "She didn't check my bag, she didn't accuse me of stealing, but because I'm black and another black person happened to get caught stealing, we have to be affiliated."
Houzah said the employee could not tell her or the other black woman in the store why they were asked to leave.
"Folks done made it OK to be publicly racist and say and do what they want," Houzah said in the video. "You don't want to be that person that thinks everybody is racist, but I just want to know why."
"We are aware of the event that occurred yesterday at the Victoria's Secret at Quintard Mall," the mall said in a statement to WIAT on Thursday. "The Quintard Mall security team was following instructions from the Victoria's Secret employee. We take any allegations of discrimination extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring that all of our guests are treated with the utmost respect. We are currently conducting our own internal investigation to better understand the facts of what took place."
Victoria's Secret said in a statement on Facebook that, "We take the experience of our customer at the Quintard Mall very seriously and have reached out to her directly to express our sincere apology. What happened at our store should not have happened and does not represent who we are or what we stand for. The store associate involved in this matter is no longer employed with the company. Victoria's Secret is adamant that all customers regardless of race be treated with dignity and respect at all times."
Houzah said she may not patronize that particular store again, but she will probably still shop at other Victoria's Secret outlets.
"I'm a little more settled about it today," Houzah told AL.com. "I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone. I mean, I can't change who I am. I'm an African-American female and I just want to be treated like everybody else."
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