Gabourey Sidibe Suffers Multiple Shamings At Chanel

Gabourey Sidibe was discriminated against while shopping at Chanel in Chicago. Instead of helping Sidibe with her request to peruse the eyewear, an employee pointed her towards Glasses For Poor People Boutique across the street. Like in Pretty Woman. Except, you know. Sidibe details her harrowing experience in Lena Dunham’s Lenny Letter. It’s like an op-ed on the benefits of coal mining in a local West Virginia weekly. Preach. 

I knew what [the sales associate] was doing. She had decided after a single look at me that I wasn’t there to spend any money. Even though I was carrying a Chanel bag, she decided I wasn’t a Chanel customer and so, not worth her time and energy. To be fair, I don’t know why that saleswoman didn’t want to help me. I suspect it’s because I’m black, but it could also be because I’m fat. Maybe my whole life, every time I thought someone was being racist, they were actually mistreating me because I’m fat. That sucks too. That’s not OK. I’ve felt unwelcome in many stores throughout my life, but I just kind of deal with it.

Luxury goods saleswomen are tragic aging divorcees whose best friends are Ben and Jerry and lithium. This woman’s ten hours of work keep her from smashing her Christofle ashtray and slicing herself open over a pile of her ex-husband’s used Band-aids. All retail workers will be replaced with Japanese sex robots in about four hours. Why not get a little something extra. They should be blowing everyone remotely capable of keeping them employed. 

We’re already bored with United and Fyre festival. Drag someone off a plan and throw then onto a gravely deserted island. Who cares. We need something new to hate. This Chanel employee fits the bill. But Sidibe fucked things up. The confrontation turned her into a self-congratulatory saint. This makes Dunham and Sidibe are besties. 

Should I worry about what a bad review would do to her career? No. But the fact is that I do. There is something in me, pushing me, forcing me to consider this woman’s feelings when she hadn’t considered mine at all.

Sidibe admits that she “definitely went through a mini-klepto phase when [she] was around fifteen.” Not helping her. Chanel released an apology. They’ll fire the sales associate and let her bleed out under public scrutiny. Sidibe is rich and marginalized. The world is hers.

_{Photo Credit: Splash News}