NFL star Darius Leonard says he was racially profiled at Chipotle in South Carolina
NFL linebacker and former South Carolina State star Darius Leonard accused Chipotle of racial profiling after a manager kicked him and his friends out, according to a video posted on Instagram on Thursday.
Leonard said he was eating at a Chipotle in Florence — roughly 80 miles east of Columbia — with three other Black men and a multiracial woman when the manager approached with a “terrible attitude” and told them a “white guy” had accused the group of “verbally abusing him.”
“It was basically a lie. We basically got kicked out of Chipotle because of that and they said they were going to call the police — or they wanted to call the police on us,” Leonard said in the video. “That’s what being Black in America is right now,” he said.
The man who complained about them then laughed at them as they walked out, he said.
Brian Niccol, chairman and CEO of Chipotle, told the Indianapolis Star in a statement that the manager has been suspended while the incident is investigated.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind and we have suspended our manager while we conduct a thorough investigation,” Niccol said. “I’ve personally reached out to Darius and I’m committed to ensuring the appropriate action is taken once the investigation concludes.”
Leonard tweeted Thursday that “being a Black male in America is very scary.”
A native of Lake View, located around 60 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, Leonard is a former star at South Carolina State. He set the school record with 394 tackles and was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2016 and 2017.
Leonard was drafted in the second round by the Indianapolis Colts in 2018. He was named named the 2018 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and received an All-Pro First Team nod after leading the league in tackles.
He followed his record-setting rookie year with an All-Pro Second Team selection in 2019.
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 9:09 AM with the headline "NFL star Darius Leonard says he was racially profiled at Chipotle in South Carolina."
