organic nail bar toronto

Customer makes racist remark and lashes out at Toronto nail salon employees

Anti-Asian hate resulting in racist outbursts has been on the rise in Toronto since the pandemic first began, and one nail salon is the latest to report an incident of this kind at one of their locations. 

Organic Nail Bar is a chain of beauty salons with five different locations across Toronto, and employees of the 438 Queen St. West location were reportedly targeted in a racist outburst from a customer earlier today. 

According to a statement from the business, the customer first tried to get a discount by accusing an employee of not doing a proper job when the esthetician was only halfway through her manicure.

She then allegedly refused to pay for the service, and proceeded to make racist and discriminatory remarks toward the employees, asking why "they let Asian people into our country," according to the statement.

The customer also left a one-star review following her visit.

"We feel the need to speak up because we want other customers to know both sides of the story about this one-star review. We have two other customers who witnessed her bullying words and actions at Organic Nail Bar BlueJays," reads the statement.

Organic Nail Bar also posted a short video on Instagram in which the customer can be heard yelling at employees while she's in the middle of receiving her manicure. 

The video was taken by another customer who witnessed the woman's outburst, and it shows her telling employees to "use something sharper" and saying she's getting "super pissed off" and wants her "nails done now."

"We always respect our customers and we hope our customers do the same. We're just trying to work hard so that we're able to bring bread to the table. We are sharing this as we hope to spread the message that discrimination and racism should not be tolerated by any means," wrote Organic Nail Bar in the statement.

The business said they eventually asked the woman to leave because of her discriminatory remarks, and she left without paying for the service she received. 

They also said their lawyers will be "working on a lawsuit about this racist action toward our business."

"Once again, we want to emphasize the racism we received," they wrote. "She said,'Why they let Asian people in our country?' Customers and employees in the store confirmed that they have heard her hate speech clearly."

Lead photo by

Organic Nail Bar on Queen


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