Video shows women curse out Sacramento pool-goers after allegedly homophobic complaint
An incident at Sacramento’s Kimpton Sawyer Hotel over Memorial Day weekend has gone viral, with video circulating on social media showing two women cursing out a group of guests after allegedly complaining about two women kissing in the pool area.
The 90-second video posted to Instagram by photographer Art Kaligos on Monday shows a group of people leaving the pool area at the downtown hotel. Kaligos wrote in a caption that a woman in that group “asked a female couple to stop kissing in a public pool because her kids were present.”
Kaligos in his post said the group who made the complaint, who he accused of being homophobic, were instead asked to leave and escorted out of the pool area by hotel security.
Kaligos’ video shows two women in that group, one of whom loudly proclaimed she lives in Oakland, directing profanity-filled remarks to some of the guests in the pool as they left.
The incident, which happened Sunday, was first reported by Fox 40.
Dominique Veasley, who says she was on the receiving end of the alleged discrimination and harassment, told CBS 13 that the women from a group in a cabana approached her and her partner twice to ask them to stop kissing, even though straight couples at the pool were also involved in affectionate displays and weren’t approached.
“The Sawyer does not condone discrimination or verbal assault of any kind,” Kimpton Sawyer general manager Nikki Carlson wrote in a statement provided to The Sacramento Bee. “An unfortunate disagreement between guests occurred at our pool over the holiday weekend and the matter has since been resolved.” The hotel did not give further details on the incident.
Kaligos told The Bee he did not know Veasley or the other woman who was allegedly harassed prior to the weekend incident.
“I just approached them and asked them what happened as (Veasley) was visibly upset,” Kaligos said. “And she was shouting ‘this is queer love’ to the pack of white mothers.”
The video begins with the camera focused on two women in sunglasses as they walk out of the pool area silently, while Kaligos and others in the pool chant “Shame!” which continues through the entire video.
A third woman, in a blue dress, then exited a poolside cabana, approached the camera and told the people in the pool to “f--- off,” flipping off the camera before leaving the premises.
A fourth woman, wearing an olive green dress and holding a Starbucks cup with the name “Deb” on it, then addressed the people in the pool for the rest of the video.
“Do you guys have any children?” she asked. One of the guests responded, saying they don’t want children.
“Good, because you would be a f---ing terrible dad,” the woman said, video shows.
Someone in the pool then called the woman a “WASP” (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant), the video shows.
“I am a Jewish woman from New Jersey. You’re a disgusting piece of s---,” the woman in the green dress responded, video shows.
A guest in the pool then called the woman “suburban,” to which she replied: “I live in Oakland, you f------ a------.” The person in the pool then began applauding sarcastically before calling her a “gentrifier.”
The woman lobbed a few more insults, calling someone in the pool a “loser” multiple times before before departing. A security guard can be seen behind her, watching as she leaves, the video shows.
Kaligos’ video had more than 130,000 views and hundreds of comments on Instagram as of Wednesday afternoon. He included the hashtag “#stophomophobia” with his post.
“It’s exhausting, but I also felt very supportive from the other people at the pool,” Veasley told CBS 13.
The group involved declined to comment to The Sacramento Bee. The group’s representative, Terry Fahn of Los Angeles-based public relations firm Sitrick and Co., said, “this incident had nothing to do with homophobia, racism or even kissing. It involved what appeared to be sexual intercourse and inappropriate activity in close proximity of children.
“Young children should not be forced to witness explicit sexual activity in a hotel swimming pool in the middle of a summer afternoon irrespective of gender or sexual identity. When members of the party politely and respectfully asked that some of the sexual activity be toned down because children were close by in the pool, they were met with aggressive verbal attacks.”
Fahn added that the group, whom he declined to name, said they left on their own accord and have received threats since the incident.
This story was originally published June 2, 2021 at 3:14 PM.
