Isaiah Washington: A Silicon Valley Hotel Racially Profiled Me ‘For Being An Uppity Negro With A Cigar’

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Isaiah Washington told HuffPost Live on Thursday that he was “racially profiled in Silicon Valley” on Saturday, April 18. Washington explained to HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill that he was at a “very nice hotel, just last Saturday, smoking a cigar,” when a security guard approached and asked for his name. Washington said he had “fallen asleep at 1 o’clock in the morning” — presumably in a public area of the hotel, though he did not elaborate — but he felt he was targeted solely because of his race. “[Security] just wanted my black behind out of the hotel for being an uppity negro with a cigar…

Isaiah Washington told HuffPost Live on Thursday that he was “racially profiled in Silicon Valley” on Saturday, April 18.

Washington explained to HuffPost Live’s Marc Lamont Hill that he was at a “very nice hotel, just last Saturday, smoking a cigar,” when a security guard approached and asked for his name. Washington said he had “fallen asleep at 1 o’clock in the morning” — presumably in a public area of the hotel, though he did not elaborate — but he felt he was targeted solely because of his race.

“[Security] just wanted my black behind out of the hotel for being an uppity negro with a cigar,” Washington said. “He didn’t like the way I looked.”

After much discussion, conflict was eventually sorted out and Washington was allowed to stay.

Washington appeared on HuffPost Live along with Mo’Nique and Julian Walker to discuss “Blackbird,” their film about a young African-American man coming to terms with his sexuality in the deep South.

Watch Washington recount his experience with racial profiling in the video above, and click here for the full HuffPost Live conversation with the cast of “Blackbird.”

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Isaiah Washington: A Silicon Valley Hotel Racially Profiled Me ‘For Being An Uppity Negro With A Cigar’