MadameNoire
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A stripper from Texas is filing a lawsuit against two strip club owners who she claims racially discriminated against her while she was working at their clubs.
Chanel Nicholson claimed that while working at four different Houston strip clubs, owned by brothers Ali and Hassan Davadri, she was sent home on multiple occasions during her assigned shifts and was told she couldn’t dance because there were “too many Black girls” working on those nights. Nicholson said that two of the strip clubs also refused to hire her again because she is Black.
“At that time, I would just take it,” she told The Houston Chronicle. “I look pretty, I smell good, I make sure I do every time. I can’t scrub my skin off.”
Nicholson and a few other Black strippers who said they have experienced the same thing have joined Nicholson to file a federal class action lawsuit against the Davadri brothers accusing them of intentional racism beginning in 2017. Nicholson is seeking lost wages and damages in the lawsuit.
“Every other Black girl I’ve ever danced with has experienced this,” Nicholson said. “We’ve all been through it, but we just deal with it. Any really beautiful Black woman that dances if you see her at a lower-end club it’s because she can’t get in at the high-end one.”
The Davadri brothers own Centerfolds Houston, Solid Platinum Cabaret, Splendor Gentlemen’s Club and The Cover Girls. They are accused of violating 1866 civil rights act which states all citizens are to have the same legal rights as white citizens to make and enforce contracts.
Nicholson, who worked at these clubs from ages 18 to 24, is now running a nonprofit that helps women get medically necessary cosmetic surgeries.
