Actress/singer Zendaya was reportedly refused service at a store because of her "skin tone".The former Shake It Up star posted a series of videos to Snapchat to rant about the service she had received in a Vons store, a supermarket chain in Southern California and Nevada. She claimed a female employee refused to issue her gift cards because she thought Zendaya couldn't afford them and then threw her wallet from the counter. "So we just got out of this Vons," she explains as she walks through a parking lot. "Now I am trying to buy a lot of gift cards... There are some certain limits and some things which is understandable, OK cool, I'll take a less amount or whatever."
Continuing her rant once she's sat inside her friend's car, she adds, "But the lady that was helping us... I don't think she was a huge fan of our skin tone.. In fact, I recall her not trying to help us at all, telling us we couldn't buy the gift cards and then throwing my wallet... I can't make this s**t up!.. This is what we deal with!"Her friend, who had previously chipped in to call the attendant rude and disrespectful, then adds, "cos we black" and they both raise their fists to the camera - a move seen as Black Power salute. "She was like 'you can't afford this' was how she looked at me (sic)," Zendaya explains, before pulling faces as if to mock the attendant's reaction when she told her she wanted $400 (?300) on the cards. "Long story short," she concludes.
"There is so much progress to be done in our world." Zendaya later posted more videos clarifying the store clerk tossed her wallet when her cards were still loose, so one fell onto the scanner. However, the employee was going to carry on serving the next customer. Zendaya finally managed to get her gift cards from the manager, who stepped in to help. Zendaya, who is partnering with designer Michael Kors for a high-tech fashion project, also spoke out against racial stereotypes when U.S. TV host Giuliana Rancic said she looked like she smelled of "patchouli" and "weed" for wearing dreadlocks at the Oscars in 2015.
