Serena Williams speaks French and she loves the Olympics. She won four gold medals over the course of her Olympic career, and she’s also a big-time Olympic pin collector. All of that means that Serena has been in Paris throughout the Olympic games. She’s there with her husband and their two daughters, although only Olympia has been seen around. Well, on Monday, this happened:
Yikes @peninsulaparis I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places 🫠 but never with my kids. Always a first. 🙄#Olympic2024 pic.twitter.com/lEGJR5WoEn
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) August 5, 2024
Serena is saying – in sort of a convoluted way – that the Peninsula Paris wouldn’t give her a table despite the fact that the place was empty. She’s saying she’s been turned away from restaurants before but never with her kids. I’m always going to be Team Serena, but there are thousands of people in her mentions, screaming at her for being “entitled” and wanting to throw out other guests… who were not there. Well, the restaurant responded:
The luxury restaurant Serena Williams accused of turning her and her children away from has responded after she called them out on social media. On Monday, the tennis icon, 42, claimed that she wasn’t permitted to eat in the rooftop of Paris’ The Peninsula — despite claiming the place was “empty.”
Now, the restaurant has responded to the 23-time Grand Slam winner as the staffers doubled down on why they denied Williams and her children a table.
“In response to Ms Williams’ tweet, for whom we have the utmost admiration and respect, as we do for all our esteemed guests, we reiterate our deepest apologies that we were not able to offer her a table at our rooftop bar when she arrived with her family and without a reservation,” the hotel said in a statement to The Post. “We do always try to make space for walk-in guests but sometimes this is not possible.”
“On August 5th, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked, and the only unoccupied tables at that time belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also fully reserved,” the Peninsula Paris said.
This reminds me of that 2013 incident with Oprah and the Zurich boutique. Oprah was shopping in Zurich, she wanted to see an expensive purse and instead of letting her see the bag, the shop’s clerk refused to show it to her and instead offered to show her less expensive bags. That blew up into an international incident over whether Oprah was being “oversensitive” or whether Oprah (correctly) read the vibe as racist and got out. I’m sure from Peninsula Paris’s perspective, they were following their own booking protocol and while the restaurant was empty, they simply did not see a good reason to get Serena and her family to a table. But I trust Serena’s instincts here – if she’s suggesting that there was another vibe, I believe her.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- The Prelude to The Paris Games 2024 at the Vuitton Foundation. Featuring: Serena Williams Where: Paris, France When: 25 Jul 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prelude to The Paris Games 2024 at the Vuitton Foundation. Featuring: Serena Williams Where: Paris, France When: 25 Jul 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Serena Williams and daughter arrives at Bercy Arena to attend the final of the women’s olympic team event during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games featuring Team USA at the Paris Bercy Arena Featuring: Serena Williams and daughter Where: Paris, France When: 30 Jul 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Celebrities attend the Men’s Singles Final match of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games at Roland Garros. Featuring: Serena Williams Where: Paris, France When: 04 Aug 2024 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Why do I feel like if Tom Cruise had shown up without a reservation, he would have been seated immediately?
Yep, they would have had his picture on all of their social media immediately.
You think that because you are American. Tom Cruise would not have a different experience then Serena, especially with the very posh and arrogant parisian restaurants. Remember, The frensh chopped the head of their king off. Mostly, They do not worship celebs like others do. They even kicked the church out of their house!
I don’t know how posh French society works, but a French WOC I work with recently went home to Paris and came back complaining of the overt racism. That surprised me because we tend to romanticize France, especially Paris, as a utopian society, but that doesn’t mean that rich white men don’t still get better treatment than WOC.
I’m Canadian and agree that Tom Cruise could have had the red carpet rolled out for him but I’m sure he’d have had his staff make reservations ahead of time. Furthermore, what’s chopping the king’s head off or creating a secular country got to do with anything? That being said it’s protocol in most fine dining venues that they don’t allow walk-ins. Your comment is rude and ill-informed.
@Alla the King had the people starving, ignored their claims and the Church was ruling along with him. If you feel sorry for that go and move to a religious dictatorship country.
It’s a tricky situation, but as someone who has been living in France since 2011 I have to say this: French don’t give a crap about celebrity, and most important French customer service is simply awful. Having said that in this kind of place you have to book no matter who you are. The place might seem empty but it isn’t and you cannot jump in a place without reservation.
The comments trying to excuse this as if it’s normal French culture are missing the mark. I love France but let’s not pretend prestigious restaurants in Paris do not value VIPs over others- Maxim’s even used to let Jane Birkin steal their tableware, lol.
If this had been Catherine Deneuve she would have been seated immediately.
Almost all of Europe is more overtly racist than the US
I think we need to know what time of day she went to the restaurant in order to draw a conclusion. French restaurants are very strict on their open hours. It’s part of the culture. A restaurant is only open for lunch for a few hours in the afternoon, because in France it’s mandated that everyone take a lunch break and leave their office or other place of work and go eat in a restaurant. It’s illegal to eat at work. Really. (Civilized lunch breaks and work/life balance – both things most of us Americans don’t get to enjoy.) Likewise, the dinner service in the evening is only for a few hours, starting at a set time. So it’s plausible that a restaurant could look empty, but all the tables could be reserved for the upcoming service, which could have one seating. (I’ve spent a lot of time in France; I have French family.)
Great comment and true. I’ve been to Paris several times and the top tier restaurant rules and protocols are very different from the US. No reservation, no seat. That being said, there is a level of racism there that cannot be denied.
But Serena has spent significant time in Paris. She’s not the typical bumbling American tourist wandering around without a clue as to what is normal Paris protocol.
I worked as a server and bartender in a lot of upscale restaurants in the Gold Coast of Chicago and in Manhattan. All of these restaurants close down between lunch and dinner if they’re even open for lunch. They have to reset everything and prep for dinner service. I’ve also been in many situations where the restaurant looks empty but actually all the tables are reserved. While it might seem easy to just give a VIP a table in that scenario, it really means unfairly bumping someone who does have a reservation.
I read a fascinating book about the French and food in a book called French Kids Eat Everything written by a Canadian mother with a French husband whose daughters would definitely not eat everything. It really explained food culture and pointed out that in France no one walks around with baggies of Cheerios or travel mugs of coffee.
Americans don’t walk around with plastic bags of Cheerios. But thanks for the laugh.
Exactly
I owned a restaurant for 14 years.
Restaurants are always open to VIP’s-(fair or not..)
Let’s not pretend the French (I say this as a Francophile) are not well known for their anti-Black racism. We discuss it on this blog constantly in the celebrity context (e.g. most recently the wax museum lightening the skin tone of Beyonce, & many other POC). Not even a question of the two-tiered society. Have lived, gone to school and studied alongside French folk most of my life. Can also cite the numerous sociological studies evidencing the anti-Black, anti-Arab racism and second class citizenship status. Sorry, but definitely not buying the ‘we were fully booked’ excuse, as noted by others.
@becks1 — Yep. Tom Cruise would have gotten seated.
@Linsday – 100% this. VIPs always get accommodated as they bring publicity to the business. As @becks1 says in the other comment below, they didn’t recognize her as a VIP. Just saw a Black woman and her family. SMDH.
She is known internationally, so it is unlikely that she was turned away due to racism (unlike the Oprah incident). It appears that the space was fully booked, but the event hadn’t yet started.
If Serena had booked an event, she certainly would not want to arrive to find that a family was occupying a table during her allotted time slot.
The rooftop isn’t a restaurant, but a hype bar that just serves cocktails and tapas. The restaurant is below. It seems both places wee fully booked
Now, as I’m French, I’d say that in any case luxury restaurants don’t discriminate on race as long as they look as they have the cash, but it’s notorious that they discriminate on children. Again, this isn’t a restaurant, and the notion of a family restaurant beyond McDonald’s is unheard of.
Had Serena been with just alone or with hubby/friend, they probably would have tried to accomodate them. They were fully-booked and didnt bother because its a bar and because she came with an infant and a 6-year old.
Racism in france is different from elsewhere. It seldom applies to class , money or celebrities.
So true! I think the French invented the ‘kids table’. Kids often don’t sit with the adults for a meal, even in restaurants, especially if there is a large group. The kids may be the key to this story. The place may not have wanted small children there.
If you look at the Variety quotes below, apparently the “key” to this story is that they didn’t recognize her.
:they are known internationall’ as racists.. There
This.
Celebrities get used to VIP treatment and when it’s not given to them they throw a hissy fit. I’m glad the restaurant stood their ground. My reservation shouldn’t be thrown out to accommodate a celebrity without a reservation
What makes you believe the business over Serena? Does she have a history of do-you-know-who-I-am behavior? I’m honestly asking because I see a lot of people eager to trash this Black woman.
I would not describe her comment as a hissy fit. She could have been mistaken but I suspect that she was not. She’s traveled the world and walked through life as a black woman. She knows what discrimination feels like.
I use to be a server- unfortunately sometimes a restaurant looks empty, especially if you go in close to open, and it *is* fully booked. Can you imagine how busy Paris is right now? I’m sure every nice restaurant has been booked solid for months.
It’s difficult for me to take a definitive side due to this. Many restaurants here have websites which will tell you online if there’s space. My kid works at one of them—that would be helpful here.
So, yes I could believe that someone would turn away a black woman and I can also believe that the place was reserved and the people hadn’t shown up yet.
Plus, restaurants in Europe don’t have a quick turnaround like in the States. When you eat out, you take your time.
Same. It could go either way. It is possible it was booked, Paris is always booked plus the OI. Then again, a Black woman… No idea…
It’s crazy to me that Serena couldn’t have her assistant book a reservation??? I don’t like that she complained about this when it isn’t racism – it reads like she showed up to a famous/notoriously busy restaurant during peak season and is mad they didn’t kick an *ordinary* family out (that did make a reservation) so that she could have a table.
I’m a Serena stan, but her privilege is showing here. You didn’t make a reservation, the restaurant is full, what do you expect??? Any other person would realize the fault is on them for not making a reservation. Instead, she tries to get the business harassed online.
I agree 100%. I love her but I have personally experienced hospitality workers and businesses get blamed for the lack of planning of customers (or would be customers) too many times. I’m sorry, it’s Paris in the summer during the Olympics. The restaurant at the Peninsula will be booked and likely even overbooked.
First, judging the situation when it did not happen to you is challenging. It is easy for a black person to discern when an incident is happening because of race or for some other reason. Other things come into play during the incident, like looks, attitude, tone, gestures, etc. Whatever it was, it made Serena feel like it was more than the restaurant being booked or full. No one gets to tell a person how to feel. She felt like it was racism and to try and discount that because you do not like the privileges celebrities have or you feel that it somehow takes away from you is sad. I don’t believe she would want them to kick anyone out for her, but I do believe she knows when she is being denied because she is black.
Yes to almost all your points, except that everything in Paris is booked. Business folks there are saying that there are fewer tourists during the games than normal July/Augusts. Hotel prices plummeted after the opening ceremony as one example.
Now, the restaurant that Serena went to could very well have been booked due to its size/location/popularity. But not because Paris is overrun with tourists.
I think a lot of the people who do remain now are working and they are the folks who would be at fancy restaurants having business dinners. It’s like any other convention, the Super Bowl, etc. it’s not just tourists that would take up space.
I don’t know what I think about this. They should have pulled an extra table out of a closet rather than offend a GOAT. But if it WAS fully booked, her family would have kicked someone else out. Why didn’t her people call in advance and save everyone the unpleasantness?
Maybe so, but we have no idea how much space they had to spare. They had likely maxed out their space for the Olympics as is.
Yeah, I’ve worked in restaurants too and know that it’s like air traffic control trying to coordinate everything. She wanted special treatment, and they didn’t even pretend to give it to her.
They absolutely should not have pulled a table out of a closet for her. This sort of behavior towards service people and expectations placed on people doing their best to serve rich people is ridiculous. She got turned down for a table she didn’t reserve, so she takes to Twitter to trash the business? No – spoiled brat behavior.
Agree completely. People bend over backwards for celebrities on the regular. If you want a table, make a reservation. Calling the restaurant out on Twitter is outrageous.
I did feel like she was putting the Pennisula on blast to a very niche audience. Like, Mr. Most Famous Movie Star or King So-n-So would have instantly gotten a table, why not me? (Would they tho?) It seems like a stretch to equate her failure to reserve a table with racism. Maybe they just don’t stan athletes there. Also, they were probably very French-snooty and that made her extra mad. First world problem.
If Serena Williams came into my restaurant and it was actually booked, I’d be calling anyone I know to find an extra table.
With the number of famous people in Paris right now, I really doubt The Peninsula is hurting for wealthy/celebrity clientele.
Why?? Because she’s Serena Williams? They are tons of famous people in Paris right now, whose assistants are all …. making reservations.
Yes, bc it’s Serena Williams! Bc I’m a huge fan. And like I said, if it was MY restaurant, that’s what I would’ve done🤷♀️. I would’ve found a way to have her stay and not bounce anyone else. Get creative.
It’s Paris and in the middle of the Olympics. No restaurant is ’empty’ and its bummer to blast a business because you didn’t get your way. With a different narrative that has been debunked.
She has a team they should have booked ahead instead of just showing up.
And yes, even Tom Cruise would have been turned away. The French don’t care.
Sometimes in life things don’t go our way. If you walk into a four-star French restaurant during the Olympics without a reservation, you risk being unable to be seated. As another poster said, if she had reserved a space in advance and her reserved seats were taken by others, she would be angry. Any of us would be because we make reservations so we have space for our guests…whenever they arrive. Just because nobody was sitting in the area at that particular time doesn’t mean the guests weren’t going to arrive. I love Serena but this incident was a bad look. IMHO
This was from Variety: “A staffer at the Peninsula’s rooftop restaurant, Maxime Mannevy, told Variety that Williams showed up to the premises with another woman and a stroller and looked “unrecognizable.”
“When she came there were only two tables available and they had been reserved by clients of the hotel,” said Mannevy, who shares that she was not working when Williams visited the restaurant. “My colleague didn’t recognize her and feels terrible, but he told her what he would have told any other client, which is to wait downstairs in the bar for a table to become available. That was absolutely nothing personal.”
This has whipped up the racists and misogynists and then people echo their sentiments about ‘entitled’ famous ‘spoilt’ black woman.
Plus the Twitter comment from the PR Peninsula is weird too. Saying their bar was ‘fully booked’ and yet that the empty tables also in the roof were for a restaurant and also ’booked’ for hotel guests. That probably means it’s reserved tables for hotel guests or special guests. Which of course she is a special guest on any restaurants list. And the worker Mannevy is now in record saying she was ‘unrecognisable’. Code for someone they don’t think is important.
I think they staff saw she was black, with kids and another woman, and then were terse about the exchange. I believe her more now from the added stories.
Saying they didn’t recognize her implies that if they did they would have seated her, which goes against the other arguments of “french restaurants dont do that.”
Yeah, the “unrecognizable “ comment really changes my impression of the situation. I’m also guessing that there was probably a tone to the way that Serena was treated — that not everyone would get — that led to Serena’s decision to call out the way that she was treated so publicly.
Like many other 🐐 she’s amazing at her sport but entitled and oot irl
Parisians adore saying no, and there’s a strong current of racism in France. Impossible to separate those, so perhaps we imagine both played a role?
Yeah, racism is ALWAYS a possibility.
Ok, I can believe that the restaurant was fully booked and that she had not made a reservation. Perhaps the way they turned her away was done in a dismissive way that left a quite a bitter taste?
I would be disappointed if Serena was acting in an entitled manner. I’m inclined to believe she has good reasons to think she was denied access when they could have accommodated her.
Agree it must have been the way they said no that was the problem here. They were dismissive with a strong undertone of racist, I’d imagine.
It is a LOT less racist in France than it is in the U.S., and the French are dismissive of everyone, equally.
Interesting that the restaurant didn’t explain to Serena but chose to explain to the rest of us. Hm..
What makes you think that? She said they told her it was booked. What else did they need to do? She saw empty seats and decided to call it something else.
I’m with many of the other posters here. This is not a good look for her. Paris is packed. She showed up at a high-demand business without a reservation seemingly expecting to get a seat regardless. Like someone else said – why would she be entitled to a seat held for someone who *had* made a reservation?
They “chose to explain it to the rest of us” because SHE chose to put a business on blast. I love her – but have to admit I like her a little bit less now. And involving her kid, no less. Nope.
Well, who started it that way? She took it to the public and to her Millions of followers. For a company like that, it is pretty bad and of course they need to publicly make a statement. They did apologise and explained what happened. What more can they do? I don’t think they have her personal mobile number. Its a very posh restaurant who is used to superstars and parisians are especially posher then posh.
She is the one who blasted it to the world. They responded with an explanation, that’s all. Hm, indeed.
There is zero chance that a high-end restaurant in Paris during the Olympics was empty. I’m siding with the restaurant on this one. Those were more likely than not reserved tables.
Could it be racism? Yeah, it’s France so can’t be discounted. But also, the Olympics are happening in Paris so why didn’t she make a reservation? Also, going to float this idea, not everyone follows tennis, so the assumption that everyone would know the Williams sisters is a stretch. I know who Simone Biles is but in the moment, when I’m not expecting to see her? Probably wouldn’t click that we’re in the same space because I wouldn’t be expecting that situation.
So, where is this magical place where racism CAN be discounted?
I wouldn’t know because I didn’t say it wasn’t racism. Find someone else to argue with.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that restaurant was legit fully booked and the host/Maitre’d was snotty about it — probably happened to all of us. Serena may have even pushed them about it, with lousy results. She was hauling around her two children and was probably exhausted and frustrated and posted about it. But who knows? I personally don’t think restaurants should gi e a reserved table to a walk-in celeb.
Last time I was in Paris years ago. I got chewed out by a store salesperson for not following the right order. For asking to look at a perfume. To this day I have no idea what the order was supposed to be.
But I was also treated so kindly by a server in a restaurant giving me the best experience for a dinner (with a reservation). Then almost spit on by a cafe worker. When they tried to steal my money assuming I didn’t understand how euros work. And stopped it.
It was hit and miss how I was treated as an American woman who knows maybe 3 French words.
I’ve had good and bad experiences in Paris from the saleslady who was chatting on the phone in an empty store and refused to turn around and let me pay for my items, to a clerk in a pharmacy I went to because I’d come down with a horrendous flu. She insisted I come behind the counter and sit down with a box of tissues while she prepared my medications.
Well she’s been world famous for decades and married to a billionaire for several years. Both of those things seem to warp people’s perceptions after enough time. You can’t take someone else’s plane or theater seat just because they’re not sitting in it yet. Same with a restaurant table. It was reserved for other people who planned ahead. She’s the one who made it public and now she looks like an entitled jerk.
I’d have to think that any place like that, at the height of the Olympics, truly is fully booked up, and seating anyone without a reservation would mess that up.
I do hope that’s all it was, but for her to post that makes me think there was some friction when she inquired.
Spent a lot of time in France for business so gonna say racists gonna racist
I don’t know what to think except it’s a whole mess and sometimes everything doesn’t have to posted to twitter (I’m talking about both sides).
Highly doubt restaurant would have had she not put it on blast to millions. They deserved to have their side heard.
I love how easily racism is dismissed. They said they didn’t recognize her, meaning they wouldn’t have treated her that way if they had recognized her. On top of it, it’s obvious this Olympics has been plagued with racism. If you’re not a BIPOC or POC, you don’t get to determine if something is racist.
The real question isn’t “should they have given Serena Williams a table over another reservation?” It’s, “would they have made that table available for a different kind of celebrity?” That is the essential difference, if any.
This is why I made the Tom cruise reference above.
could this just be standard practice in French restaurants? Sure. But people are assuming that Serena doesn’t know how Parisian restaurants work, or doesn’t know racism when she experiences it.
I feel like she probably has a good handle on both.
Im not a fan of the country. With all the protests going on, them banning all the homeless people elsewhere without help.
The whole event should’ve not been (heald there) while the whole world is in chaos.
panem et circenses
I think the Oprah situation happened in Hermes. It’s part of the business plan to get customers to buy their lower priced items before they let them buy the higher priced items even for their celebrity clientele except some so maybe the sales exec didn’t recognize Oprah. As for Paris being super busy during the Olympics it doesn’t appear that’s the case. There’s a BBC article about this saying it’s a good time to travel to Paris right now. You can still buy olympic tickets every day as they release some for sale BBC News – Whisper it, but is now a good time to holiday in Paris?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy7970gz3qro
Yeah, I have a friend who is in France for two months (husband’s family lives there) and they just hopped over to Paris for a last minute weekend trip and got olympic tickets to some bigger ticket events (I can’t remember which, maybe some track and field?) I mean they weren’t at the women’s gymnastics finals but it wasn’t underwater basketweaving either.
I mean, if the restaurant said it was reserved, and it was….it sounds like there wasnt any mal intent. I think this is likely overblown unless there is some sort of evidence it was only excluding her.
It’s very likely that the restaurant did not want kids, especially a high end Parisian restaurant. If she had shown up with her dog, they may have seated her! I lived in Europe for a number said years with a 3 year old. The French would actually roll their eyes at us if we showed up with a stroller and my kid. They don’t like kids in their restaurants. But, if you went with your dog, they would literally fawn over it and bring a bowl of water. I am totally serious. It happened many times. 😂😂
I believe Serena. And you want to know why? Because people love to gaslight Black folks about our experiences when it comes to racism. Could all the tables have been booked? Yes. Could they also have been incredibly racist and nasty while telling her so? Also yes. Often times what Black folks experience in these situations are thinly-veiled microagressions that allow yt folks to have plausible deniability when confronted over it. I know this because I have experienced it first hand – numerous times.
💯
The fact that she wasn’t “recognizable”–yep, that’s the the usual racist code word for “WOC isn’t dressed above-and-beyond respectable, so she must be some trashy person.” Serena put up with a lot of misogynoir crap in her early tennis career, so it’s doubtful her instincts failed her here.
This comment section alone is full of people eager to call her “entitled” and jump to the defense of a business. Serena is no stranger to Paris, fancy restaurants or racism. I’ll defer to her judgement.
Yes I fully believe Serena. I’m disappointed by the level of racism I’m seeing in these comments.
The racism in these comments is astounding. The restaurant admitted the hostess did not recognize her. Since to them she was just another Black woman with kids they felt no need to explain why it looked empty but was booked. That could be why Serena was upset and not because she was “entitled”. Contrary to racist belief, POC don’t go around looking for racism. It is not a healthy way to live. Having money doesn’t always protect from racist treatment.
Thanks. As stated if it didn’t feel right to Serena, I believe her. Also, thanks Kaiser for putting ‘denied access’ rather than Serena “claimed” or “accused” also not so subtle ways to demonstrate over-sensitive or not believing a WOC.
She wasn’t denied because she’s black, she was denied bc she demanded another guest’s reserved table.
That restaurant DOES NOT accept walk ins.
I’m black and half-French, I’ve eaten that restaurant lots of times.
Serena is just rude and entitled.
For many months, travel agents were advising clients to book any reservations they wanted then. Many expected the top restaurants to be fully booked well before the Opening Ceremonies. The Olympics are full of corporate executives, wining & dining their best clients. Often these type of restaurants, are fully booked for a corporate events. Just last night, US basketball took over an entire restaurant/bar. That’s typical. Look at how Super Bowl works.
Of course Paris is busy with the Olympics underway, but Serena spends a lot of time there (she has an apartment) and I’m sure if her kids were with her, she probably was trying for an impromptu place to eat. Maybe outside so the kids wouldn’t disturb anyone in an enclosed space.
Now, do restaurants get booked up and not seat guests after the lunch hour and before dinner? Yes, of course. No matter how big a celebrity you are. BUT, here’s where things veer off course for me. Serena knows these things too and for her to have made a post about it, then the person who refused her was probably rude to her. Maybe in front of her children. There’s a way to explain to someone that you’re not seating people or that you are fully booked. To have her take to the socials means that there was rudeness involved.
I’m a Serena fan and anyone who visits or posts on a tennis forum can read the myriad attacks on her (and Venus) for simply existing in the world. So, I can believe that the server/hostess/whomever could have been dismissive.
No! Serena is rude. To turn up at a Michelin restaurant in Paris during the Olympics without a reservation is ridiculous.
Why have we forgotten her comments in 2013 about the rape victim – https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/serena-williams-apologises-after-comment-that-rape-victim-shouldn-t-have-put-herself-in-that-position-8664998.html
Yes, rocking up to a Michelin restaurant without a reservation is pretty ridiculous. No one is arguing about that. But how she was turned away is the issue. As far as the link, Insensitive and ill-spoken words from Eleven years ago and she apologized:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2013/06/19/serena-williams-apologizes-steubenville-ohio-rape-case/2437705/#:~:text=Serena%20Williams%20released%20a%20statement,I%20was%20deeply%20saddened.
She’s an awful person didn’t she also totally demean umpires, she seems very entitled and I’m also a POC
She’s an awful person based upon what? And since you needed to make that caveat about being a POC, are you suggesting that other POC give Serena a pass if and when she does something wrong? Is that how you judge everyone?
Demeaning umpires? Before you go making sweeping generalizations, maybe take into account ALL athletes (tennis players included and not just the famous ones) get into arguments with officials when they feel a call has gone wrong.
She’s no more entitled than any other person worth $215 + million dollars, internationally known and the holder of 39 grand slam titles and 4 olympic gold medals.
Glad she dropped the name of the restaurant. My hope is that they’ll continue to be ’empty’.
If there was a world famous olympic gold medalist who wanted to come to MY restaurant and eat, DURING the olympics, you make it work. Not only is that just good customer service, but it would be huge for the restaurant. I work in hospitality/customer service/nightlife. One time Cher, yes THE CHER, wanted to hold a fundraiser at my nightclub, we had an event booked, we called the organizers and they GLADLY moved their event earlier and Cher even agreed to take photos with them. EVERYBODY wins.
Nah. I think the business was silly for doing this. And have basically let it be one they if you’re a regular person you may be asked last minute to accommodate someone famous and well known. I would never willingly spend money in an establishment like that.
Kicking out other customers just because a celebrity snaps her fingers is terrible customer service.
Thank God us Europeans don’t slavishly worship celebrities the way Americans do.
This is a ridiculous argument. No celebrity in Europe ever gets special treatment, ever!?! Come on now.
I have worked in a French speaking country, and frankly, I believe her. A lot of high-end establishments will try to discourage “Africans” from entering their establishments. They don’t even think of it as being racist. They think it is ok to assume they can’t pay and will cause trouble. When I first saw that I was appalled.
I used to live near that particular restaurant and they were always very welcoming to me, a biracial woman.
Serena is just rude and entitled demanding to be given a table someone else had reserved.
Didn’t the Peninsula reply to this, saying that they were fully booked? So, it might have looked empty, but it wasn’t?
I go to Paris very often and my favourite restaurant needs a reservation. People walk in all the time and ask for a table and are promptly sent away. This is because all tables are booked, even though you can see empty ones, people might be arriving in 15 or 20 minutes.
But Serena being famous and the tennis GOAT is probably used to always getting special treatment.
No, Serena is 100% wrong and very entitled and rude for wanting the restaurant to kick other guests out for her.
She didn’t have a reservation in a reservation-only restaurant, all the other tables are reserved. In Paris it’s the norm to eat late, and Americans tend to eat dinner very early. So it doesn’t surprise me at all that the patrons who had reserved those tables had not yet arrived, especially given Serena had kids (indicating it was earlier in the evening).
What happens if Serena and her kids are still eating when the group who reserved the table arrives?? Does Serena really come across like the kind of person who would accept “the table is reserved from 9pm so you must leave by 9?”
The person who she approached said she was unrecognizable. What does that matter if the restaurant was fully booked? And the restaurant itself said that it tries to accommodate walk-ins if possible.
why are people acting like Serena Williams is brand new to Paris and brand new to high end restaurants??
This!
She’s one of the most famous women in the world who has spent a lot of time in Paris. She’s also weathered 30 years of targeted racism. Take a google stroll through the way she and Venus have been covered by the press.
For people making sweeping statements about how rude and entitled she is, like she wouldn’t deserve some courtesy if she asked if they could have a table. No one, famous or not, should be treated discourteously because of their race. Stephanie from Lainey Gossip posted this perspective:
https://www.laineygossip.com/serena-williams-being-denied-access-to-parisian-restaurant-with-family-reeks-of-something-more-sinister/78675