If you’re asking me to pick sides between Serena Williams versus a French restaurant hostess, I’m choosing Serena every time. Celebrities from all around the world have descended into Paris for the Olympics. Serena has been there since before the games even started, and she was asked to be part of the torch relay, carrying it alongside Carl Lewis, Rafael Nadal and Nadia Comăneci. Serena attended a lot of the women’s gymnastics and she also turned up for the men’s gold medal match in tennis. Like many people in town for the games, I doubt she knows when various competitions will be over, and as such, she would probably find it difficult to nail down restaurant reservations. This is why Serena, her daughter Olympia and a friend (possibly her agent Jill Smoller, who has also been in town) hit up the Peninsula on Monday and asked for a table without a reservation. What happened next is being debated across the internet.
According to Serena, “I’ve been denied access to rooftop to eat in a empty restaurant of nicer places… but never with my kids. Always a first.” Meaning, she thought there were plenty of open tables and that she was being denied a table for unspecified reasons. The Peninsula replied to the tweet with: “Dear Mrs. Williams, Please accept our deepest apologies for the disappointment you encountered tonight. Unfortunately, our rooftop bar was indeed fully booked and the only unoccupied tables you saw belonged to our gourmet restaurant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was fully reserved.” So yes, there were plenty of empty tables but every single thing was booked or reserved, now go home, you gauche American. But wait, there’s an added wrinkle! There always is.
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 is an important wrinkle to me. This is why I gave Serena the benefit of the doubt and not the restaurant employees. Again, Serena speaks French, she owns an apartment in Paris and she won three French Open titles. She looooves Paris. For Serena to call out a restaurant like this, it means that she absolutely feels insulted by the way they treated her. Serena looked “unrecognizable,” you say? Meaning, they thought she was just a Black tourist and they blocked her? I also doubt that Serena was told to “wait downstairs for a table” – it sounds like she was flatly refused service.
Last thing – personally, I find it gross to watch people gleefully try to put Serena “in her place” or mock her for wanting special treatment, if that is what she wanted. First off, Serena IS special and I’m fine with her being treated like she’s special. I also think people are conflating “wanting to be treated as respectfully as someone would treat a white customer” with “she wanted special treatment!”
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
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Cover Images.
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- Paris, FRANCE – Celebs attend the tennis second round match between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Roland Garros. Pictured: Serena Williams BACKGRID USA 29 JULY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Best Image / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Paris, FRANCE – Serena Williams is seen attending the Women’s Gymnastics Final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with her daughter, enjoying the competition together. Pictured: Serena Williams BACKGRID USA 30 JULY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Aissaoui Nacer / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Paris, FRANCE – Serena Williams is seen attending the Women’s Gymnastics Final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with her daughter, enjoying the competition together. Pictured: Serena Williams BACKGRID USA 30 JULY 2024 BYLINE MUST READ: Aissaoui Nacer / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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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**
Kaiser – I’m completely with you on this. Serena lived in Paris for years before getting married. She knew the scene. And she doesn’t make comments like this – ever. There was something shady and shame on everyone who was making excuses for the behavior of the staff or saying she doesn’t know France or Paris. She does. And she knows when people are shading her. Start listening to Black Women!
💯%
Yup. All this. 🎯
Co-signed.
All of this!
She’s famous. She should have been treated better than the rest of us, clearly. Maybe they should have given her someone else’s table, or at least apologised profusely for… being fully booked and for the fact that SHE didn’t bother making a reservation. /s
However, they didn’t recognise her and treated like they would treat the rest of us.
But who are “the rest of us”? I´m a white European woman and quite familiar with waiters in high class restaurants and also certain French ways. I´m not sure I´d be treated like her, chances are I´d stand a chance of being treated a little less snotty.
@Fran Je t’aime. What stung my heart was “with my kids” and the heartbreak when you can’t protect them from learning how the world can be about something you have no control over and is completely beyond reason.
@Fran, I’m glowingly lily white (Irish skin) and have always been treated appallingly in every single French restaurant I’ve been to (or tried to get into) in the few visits to France I’ve done.
I’ve been told that virtually empty places have no tables left as they’re fully booked, so have been turned away. I’m not a POC so have never personally considered this racist, but I do think the French are extremely xenophobic. Also, particularly in Paris, waiting on staff are beyond pompous and condescending when you can actually find somewhere to eat.
We are planning a family trip to Paris for next summer and let me tell you….some of these comments make me wonder if we should go elsewhere….
As far as I know, Serena has never called an establishment out like this before. Something happened. She was unrecognizable? I’m guessing he just didn’t know who she was and rather than politely explain the situation of the tables being booked, he got snobby and acted like a rude, condescending asshole to the uppity Black woman.
I ain’t shedding a single tear for this entitled woman.
I’m also POC before someone says anything.
She comes across as very rude, wasn’t she super demeaning to umpires
Colette just say you are not Black. Thank you. Keep it moving.
You clearly don’t watch tennis Colette, and you’re not black. Go and sit down with this prejudiced nonsense. She was not super demeaning to umpires.
Ok, Karen.
I’M GLAD SHE CALLED THEM OUT!
I BET SHE WON’T GO ANYMORE!
This is an important wrinkle to me. This is why I gave Serena the benefit of the doubt and not the restaurant employees. Again, Serena speaks French, she owns an apartment in Paris and she won three French Open titles. She looooves Paris. For Serena to call out a restaurant like this, it means that she absolutely feels insulted by the way they treated her.
This. This. ALL this and more of THIS. I purposely stayed out of the conversation because of what I had seen online. I knew people would denigrate Serena about this situation. The way that Black women and WOC are treated is rage enduing and heartbreaking. That restaurant will continue to show themselves and I’m glad that Serena put them on blast and stood up for herself.
They likely would have accommodated Tom Cruise.
I believe Serena. And she lives there. She knows who is and isn’t accommodated in those circumstances.
This is important to me too – “it means that she absolutely feels insulted by the way they treated her.”
Why do I feel like this is more because she was treated in a rude and dismissive manner than just the fact that she couldn’t get a table?
I think this too. And the Peninsula putting out that waffling statement is damage control because Serena brings Nike, Lincoln, Audemars Piguet and all the other brands that might not want to book at the Peninsula Paris over the way they’ve treated her. Racism and microagressions should bear impact
That’s what I’m thinking too, her choosing to publicly call them out makes me think it wasn’t handled well, even if they truly could not accommodate her (which is believable, considering the Olympics and all.)
Yeah.. usually agree with you but this just screams ‘famous american throws a tantrum when she doesn’t get recognized and gets given special treatment’ abroad. They would have had to cancel another reservation to accommodate her, which they may have done to avoid this public thing had they recognize her, but still.
I believe they were fully booked, but this latest comment very much implies that if they did recognize her, things would have played out differently. Two things can be true. They could have been fully booked but also really rude/racist to her about it, for example, which is obviously unacceptable.
Eh, or it could mean they were fully booked but if they knew she was famous they would have bumped a regular guest for her. Celebrity privilege. I don’t know what happened but she is an ultra famous and rich woman who is used to getting what she wants.
That said, France is incredibly racist and I know regular POC have to deal with a lot of bs.
Nope. Serena is not like that. As many others have said, she speaks French, has a place in Paris. It’s far more likely that the waitstaff was overtly racist, like eyeing her over in disapproval over who they think should be a patron there.
Not sure why the fact that you have a place in Paris matters when you’re told all the tables are already booked and still insist on eating there. There’s literally no correlation.
Insisting after being told that is asking for special treatment. (And if she did not believe them when they told her all the tables were already booked at a 2 stars restaurant in the middle of the olympics is… something).
She last won the open there more than 9 years ago, so it’s totally possible that the employee did not recognize her, and it must have hurt a little after participating in the opening ceremony, but still, not a good look
Having a place in Paris matters because people are acting like Serena is ignorant of French practices or cultural norms. Given that she has spent a lot of time in Paris, and yes, owns a place there, its unlikely that she is ignorant of those things.
@CHLO, the employee doesn’t have to recognize her to treat her decently. If she is mentioning it, the employee likely thought that the establishment was too good for her and her guests/family. I wonder if she ever has those issues when her husband is accompanying her. I doubt it.
(And places like this always know how to manage when they have VIP guests, they just didn’t think she was VIP or worthy of politeness)
As Serena mentioned, she has been turned away from other establishments, but I think this time didn’t sit well with her because they discriminated her in front of her children.
I don’t think the issue of one’s color is as potent in France and even Europe for that matter like it is in the States. On the other hand, if they thought she was poor, then yes, I guess that would have been problematic.
Wait………are you trying to say France/the French aren’t super racist??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
She even dares to say, “ even Europe for that matter……”. With what’s happening in England right now, you can only shake your head at this comment.
There were people on here yesterday saying that the French aren’t racist/as racist as Americans and they are rude to everyone equally. 😳 mmm okay… They get very defensive with any critique of their xenophobic behavior.
But ‘blueberry’ was very upset about a jar of jam yesterday, so let’s keep perspective /s
I guess, you are not including the UK in “Europe” there? Color seems to be very “potent” right now in the UK.
ALS, the issue of one’s color is absolutely as potent in Paris AND in Europe as it is in the US.
Are you being sarcastic?
Kelly Rowland at Cannes would like a word. Either way, measuring the potency of how racist a country is or is not isn’t the point. Racist people are just about everywhere. Unfortunately. And yes, in France. The bigger point is that something happened that had Serena calling it out. She spends a lot of time in Paris so she knows when something doesn’t feel right. I trust her judgment.
There are literally race riots happening in the UK right now. Multiple famous WOC have had issues in France. And let’s not get started on the rampant Islamophobia and hate towards immigrants in France and the UK.
My dude do you really think that their attitudes of superiority over people of color stopped at the end of the French colonial empire? 🤦🏽♀️
This is so ridiculous it almost make my head spin. Wake up!
You can’t wake up racists. It’s never going to happen
@als, STOP. You mustn’t be Black if you can fix your mouth to say that Europe really isn’t racist. I am Black and my siblings and I learned how horribly racist Spain is. Repeatedly food servers in various restaurants would make vicious, ugly comments in Spanish while serving our meals. They assumed that Black Americans couldn’t understand them. Imagine their surprise and horror when we would let them talk their bigoted to each other while smiling in our faces, and then when receiving the check, we would speak flawless Spanish to them. They would fall all over themselves to apologize, but they had already shown their ignorant, racist asses.
So miss me with that fantasy that France and the rest of Europe aren’t terribly racist.
SMH at this comment. The French are not racist? You are kidding, right? Europe? I don’t live in the UK but see that on SKY News and the BBC.
It sounds like you want to be willfully ignorant that it happens.
I believe Serena that this was problematic, but I was also interested to hear that the French are culturally opposed to children in restaurants. “No, we’re not racist but we just hate children” is a new defense to me (But they adore your dog and the welcome your dog in restaurants).
LOL the amount of bourgeoise, well-to-do, upper class white families with babies in strollers and toddlers walking around the table would disagree with that assessment! I wish they would bring less of their kids around, but I’m not going to judge! Parents gotta eat too.
Yeah, the clincher in this is the line about her being “unrecognizable” which implies if she had been recognized, things would have been different. Maybe she still would have been turned away, but I bet it would have happened with a lot more respect.
They were fully booked. She chose not to wait. Be reasonable.
(And I’m nota saying she wanted special treatment, but you may be okay with her getting special treatment, but not everybody is.)
You americans are so entitled (and no, I’m nota French or European).
I completely agree with you. I’ve dined at this restaurant and I had to book the table 1 month in advance. When I asked why it took so loog, the waiter told me there are very few tables open for booking because the hotel’s clients are the priority and other customers come second so no, she wasn’t discriminated against, she juste should have booked a table beforehand.
If this was 100% what it was, then they wouldn’t have said she was “unrecognizable.” Why does that matter if the restaurant policy is the restaurant policy?
Again why are people acting like Serena is brand new to Paris or high end restaurants?
I think the most important part is “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.” So what, say, he’d recognised her, the answer would have been the same ! You write “Again why are people acting like Serena is brand new to Paris or high end restaurants” and yet, she came without booking in advance wich is a big no no in such high ends place. I don’t say french people are not racist, I say that’s not the case here.
If the treatment and behavior would have been the EXACT same had she been recognized, then there would have been no point to the comment “she was unrecognizable.” That comment indicates that something would have been different. Maybe she still wouldn’t have gotten a table, but I feel pretty confident the restaurant probably would have been more polite and respectful in the refusal.
I said “Why are people acting like Serena is brand new to Paris” because by saying “is a big no no” implies that she IS brand new and has never eaten in a high end Parisian restaurant before. I am fairly confident that is not the case.
Why is it so hard for people to acknowledge that racism was most likely a factor here? Two things can be true at once – she did not have a reservation and would not have been seated regardless AND the way she was treated was racist. I trust that Serena knows when she is being treated in a racist manner.
That they admitted that they didn’t recognise her only means one thing: If they had known she was a superstar, they would have probably found a place for her.
But they didn’t, so they treated her like they would have treated anybody who came in without a reservation.
This is not because she is black. This is because she didn’t have a reservation.
@TikChica but it is relevant because the argument many were making yesterday (and today) was that there was nothing the restaurant could do and nothing the restaurant would have done for ANY celeb who walked through that door. Clearly that is not true. Even this most sainted of restaurants would have made accommodations had they recognized her. Should they make those accommodations for celebrities? That’s a different discussion, but as it stands restaurants do it all the time.
And my guess is they treated her in a racist manner and that’s why she went to social media. I think if they had been respectful this would have been a nonstory.
American. Not entitled. I wouldn’t have sat in the bar and waited if I were hungry though. I would have moved on to another restaurant.
NOPE. I guarandamntee if her husband had been there, the entire situation would have played out differently
you literally don’t know that lol.
geez, i don’t want to seem like i’m defending a possible racism situation or the french bad service, but imagine if a foreign celebrity came into your city, tried to eat in a fully booked restaurant, and the restaurant accomodated said celebrity by cancelled a nobody’s reservation made months in advance. imagine if said nobody was you.
hell, it doesnt even have to be a foreign celebrity. imagine if it was jlo or someone less likeable than serena lol.
and we all know serena is not new to the scene, but again – none of you know her. lets not pretend you are inside her mind.
” …I don’t want to seem like i’m defending a possible racism situation or the french bad service, but…”
You probably should have just stopped there, and saved yourself the effort of typing out the rest of that thought, honestly.
Celebs are accommodated last minute alllllll the time. That they didn’t recognise her was the give away.. That and her being black with kids – they didn’t gaf.
Everyone assumes the restaurant is being truthful when they claim that they told her the restaurant was fully booked. There is a lot of spin happening now that she called them out publicly.
I’m embarrassed to admit that this did not occur to me. Serena says she was “denied access”, the restaurant makes it seem like they explained to her why they could not accommodate her. But how do we know that the restaurant is telling the truth and handled it how they said they handled it?
Restaurants make accommodations for celebrities ALL THE TIME. It is standard practice. They always have a way to make allowances for unexpected celebrities. This was racism through and through. I’ve seen this first hand. My old boss (a white man) was very prominent in certain entertainment and fashion circles. Although he was not himself a celebrity, he was often accommodated, last minute, for tables in posh restaurants because of his status. If he was dining with a celebrity client, they were ABSOLUTELY accommodated. The only times there may have been difficulty was during events such as NY or Paris fashion week, or during the Oscars, when there were so many celebrities trying to attend the same establishments that one’s place in the celebrity hierarchy would determine just how easily they were able to accomodate someone.
I don’t think it was racism, but I think you just proved a point unintentionally. he didn’t recognize her, so he didn’t make special accommodations for a celebrity because he didn’t know she was a celebrity. so instead, she was told the same thing any of us would have been told – it’s fully reserved. that’s not about race.
He didn’t recognize her – so he treated her as he would have any random Black woman – which was in all likelihood rudely.
@AmeerahM FACT!
@Ameerah M Exactly!
@Arizona The default treatment for a random Black person is rudeness and racism. Sometimes celebrity can insulate one from this, but at times it does not. See Oprah’s rude treatment at the Hermes store.
*Looks at camera* This is why I said I believe Serena. Because micro-agressions are REAL – despite people wanting to deny their existence. They treated her poorly – bet. REGARDLESS of whether they were fully booked – the way they handled the situation was in all likelihood rood and racist. Otherwise why even mention the fact that you didn’t recognize her?? Why would/should that matter if the restaurant was fully booked and you had treated her respectfully like you would any other patron???
Stop gaslighting Black folks when we say we have experienced racism!
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Say it LOUDER!! *claps*
Yes, yes, yes, yes,, yes!
Amen!!!!
It’s just so clear.
They didn’t want to deal with her skin tone or her children so they took a stand.
Sure, it’s possible she wasn’t initially recognized but someone eventually knew who she was.
I hope she never stops referencing this.
Racism is alive and well here in 2024 and any excuses are stupid and irritating.
I’ve lived in Europe multiple times between the UK and Italy over the years and Europe IS just as racist as America they just demonstrate differently but it’s the same sh*t. Europe also suffers from a healthy dose of Anti-Americanism and it sounds like that was the case here as well. How do I know? The damn comments. “You Americans are so entitled.” As if they aren’t. FoH! #TeamSerena
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THANK YOU. The gaslighting is ridiculous.
Ya I live in Europe and have been here for 20 years and I can confirm the racism (and anti americanism) in many European countries – it comes off differently, but it’s still there. They are the OG colonizers after all.
The fact that the restaurant went out of their way to say she was “unrecognizable” in their defense feels off to me. If the restaurant was booked, then it was booked. Why should it matter if they recognized her or not? Unless they are implicitly acknowledging that they DO make exceptions for celebrities, but they instead thought she was just some random, “uppity” black woman and tried to moved her along? Sus as hell.
My guess is they would have been nicer if they recognized her, either accommodating her at the cost of another customer or just being more apologetic to her face.
I had the most unpleasant few days in Paris a couple months ago. And I stayed with a Parisienne. The rudeness runs deep… they are rude to each other too, and delight in saying ‘no’. I love art and architecture, and it was still disappointing. I think they do a great job of marketing themselves as a destination… but it’s not backed up by a welcoming people …
And the hilarious thing was a French friend I was hanging out with totally agreed… her words. “The problem is the French”.
ymmv ofc
A ton of ya’ll so called Meghan Markle fans are really showing yourselves today. The article comments yesterday were gross and some are gross today.
As a pasty white woman I’ve never experienced racism but I sure as hell have experienced sexism and for those who can’t comprehend that what Serena experienced was racist, maybe think of it in terms of what would have happened if a famous white man had asked for a table. I have no doubt in my mind that George Clooney would have been given a table.
Sorry i’m stuck at unrecognizable, do people really beleive the movies when people change hair color they become unrecognizable? the resturant messed up and need to make a serena table for when ever she turns up and wishes to dine there
Serena has always seemed pretty down to earth. I doubt she would have called the restaurant out of someone wasn’t nasty to her.
This is it for me too. She doesn’t have a history of throwing fits. We know the French are rude + racist. And Serena isn’t some random American celeb. She lived there and is familiar with the culture. Why would I not believe her when she says that something wasn’t right?
I disagree that “special” people should get special treatment. The accommodation of the rich and famous person almost always comes at the expense of someone with less power. Why should a regular person who planned ahead and made a reservation be made to wait for their table because someone more “special” showed up at the last minute? Rankism leads to abuse, discrimination, and exploitation, just like racism. Rankism is what “sombodies” do to “nobodies.” It’s another one of those “fish don’t have a word for water” -isms that are poisoning society.
Rankism isn’t a thing. But racism definitely is. Which is what this was all about. Because regardless of whether they had a table or not – they told on themselves with their “we didn’t recognize her” line. Because all that proves is that they treated her like they would treat ANY Black woman.
I feel like we are missing information to make a definitive judgement of racism on some random service workers.
Are they even white?
Why are we giving Serena the benefit of the doubt on calling them out and not giving the service industry workers the same?
Is this a class issue or race issue and how do the two intersect?
Is it possible that no one was racist, but multiple people were just rude?
We are giving Serena the benefit of the doubt because Black women are RARELY given the benefit of the doubt. Also – unless someone is Black their experience of micro-aggressions and anti-Blackness is ZERO. When Black people tell you their lived experiences everyone wants to find another reason why something happened. It’s gaslighting. And yes – racism can be veiled as simple rudeness. That’s why it’s called a micro-aggression. We also know that France has a LONG history of racism and anti-Blackness. We saw this just a few months ago in Cannes.
We can talk about celebrity entitlement all day, but the reality is it exists and comes with the package at this point. They get special treatment because they bring their celebrity with them. This restaurant probably resents that they shot themselves in the foot denying a very famous Olympic and worldwide athlete a table during a time when it would’ve been a huge PR boost.
The essential question here is: if this was Roger Federer or Michael Phelps, would it have happened? That really determines the motive.