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Hairstylist "For The Stars" Fined For Leaving Racist Voicemail
By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 20, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Oct 20, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
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You know what's a great way to have your wedding ruined? Having a hairstylist you've never actually met leave a voicemail for you in which they call you racial slurs. But you know what helps? Having the city fine said stylist $22,500 for your troubles. Things get a little tricky, however, when the stylist in question starts claiming they were never your stylist in the first place ad that the voicemail was left by an impostor! But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Back in 2009 Tifany McIntosh, who is black, missed an appointment with stylist Marina Vance a so-called "Stylist for the Stars" ("like Ashley Judd and Yasmine Bleeth"). So naturally Vance left the following message on McIntosh's voicemail:
Hello Tifany, this is Marina Vance. We had an appointment today at 11:30 - why you didn’t show up, or why you didn’t call, alright? Ah, this is very common with the - - I’m sure you’re a fucking nigger, ah, who doesn’t care for anybody’s time, alright? I wish, you know what, please, that you don’t show up for your appointment, ah, which is coming. Tifany with an “F,” a fucking nigger, next time, or or a fucking Dominican bitch. Okay? Where the fuck is you that you thought you (inaudible) gonna kiss the fucking sweat off your ass. Good bye.
According to court papers [PDF], when McIntosh tried to call back Vance said "I do not want to talk with you, I don't do business with niggers." Which is totally not an appropriate way to speak to anyone. In fact, to speak to a potential client like that is illegal! So McIntosh, who says she missed the appointment because of "a family crisis," went to the New York City Commission on Human Rights, where a judge has suggested that Vance pay $15,000 to the city and $7,500 to McIntosh for her comments (the commission has yet to make a final decision in the case).
But here is where a depressing story gets a little funky. In response to the allegation Vance filed her own claim, saying that she doesn't have a salon in the city and that the voice on the voicemail is not hers. So the Times went and did a little digging and found that, yep, the address, where Vance says her salon is located, doesn't have a salon nor did the one McIntosh listed in her complaint (though a neighbor said there was one once there briefly before).
Caught on the phone, Vance tells the paper that the person who left the message on McIntosh's voicemail was not her ("I never discriminate about no one.") and that anyway, regarding McIntosh, “I’ve never seen this woman. She made three different appointments but never showed up.” She says that she does still see clients (though won't say where) and that she's planning on appealing the if the commission sides with the judge in the case. Nobody answered when we tried the number listed on Vance's website.
Tagged
hair salon
marina vance
phone message
racism
tifany mcintosh
voicemail
Garth Johnston
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