Boston Supercuts Employee Fired For Comment About ‘Black People Hair’
An employee at a Supercuts in the Boston suburb of Westborough has been fired after allegedly making a racist comment about young children who came to the shop with their mother for an appointment.
Damalyn Ellslager-Matthews, who brought her three kids, ages 2, 5, and 7, to Supercuts, wrote about the incident on Facebook on Saturday (July 4). Ellslager-Matthews wrote she was told by an employee, “we should have informed them when we made the appointment that my children are Black and they do not cut Black people hair.” The comment was allegedly made in front of her children.
“It hurt my 7 year old daughter’s feelings,” Ellslager-Matthews wrote. “She kept saying is [sic] she is not black she is mixed and her skin is brown and that it should not matter anyways!!!! we are all people and all have hair that needs to be cut ! this can not be tolerated at all!”
“It’s heartbreaking that children are placed in these type of positions,” her husband, Muhammad Matthews, wrote of the incident on Facebook, sharing that the management of the franchise had reached out to them.
The Supercuts franchise wrote on their Facebook page a day later, on July 5, that they were “horrified” to learn of the incident and were conducting an internal investigation, saying the business serves “all members of our community.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated,” the statement read, before announcing that the employee who made the comment had been fired.
"We were deeply disturbed by what we heard, immediately reviewed the matter, and terminated the employee involved. We have spoken with and apologized to the customer and thanked her for bringing this to our attention. We also thank everyone who came forward to share this with us.”
The statement continued, “Racism, ignorance, and prejudice are not tolerated or allowed in our company. We will continue to provide sensitivity training throughout our organization. Our staff proudly believes in and supports equality and diversity in our workplace and throughout our communities.”
