Josephine Robinson, who is a former employee of Gucci, has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that she was forced to treat singer Rihanna unfairly because of the performer’s Caribbean roots.
The Bajan pop star recently appeared in ads for the company’s “Gucci Tattoo Heart” campaign and according to Robinson, she was discriminated against.
Robinson said that her boss, International tax counsel Stan Sherwood, instructed her to ‘tax the hell out of Rihanna and find a way to allow Gucci to withhold 30 percent of her fee when he learned the songstress was from a Caribbean island.
Robinson’s lawyer Rick Ostrove, tells The NY Post that the comment was sparked by a discussion between his client and Sherwood over a photo shoot for Gucci that Rihanna got paid for which was subject to tax withholding because she wasn’t a US resident. Ostrove said Rihanna didn’t want taxes to be withheld.
Robinson also said that she was subjected to “an unrelenting barrage of racist comments and jokes at her expense by Sherwood and others at Gucci” which she says fired her last year after she complained about the treatment.
Robinson, who describes herself as a dark-skinned West Indian Latina, is seeking $5 million in damages.
Do you think Gucci was being racist to Rihanna?
i’m sure a company that caters too…mainly like rappers in the spotlight isn’t racist
just wanted to make some cash off her, like any company, gett all they can