Singer, musician and occasional actor/author/jack of all trades Gackt has had a long and successful career on the Japanese music scene, and also enjoys considerable popularity abroad. During an overseas trip recently, he encountered an unsettling example of what he claims to be blatant racial discrimination in a Parisian hotel. But just what happened?
According to an account written in his own words on his regular “blogazine”, Gackt spent one night in Paris recently while en route to Italy. The airport hotel operates a morning buffet, to which a hungry Gackt arrived early to partake of, without any members of his staff or entourage with him. Upon entering the completely empty dining room, Gackt claims that upon selecting a comfy seat at a table near the entrance with a prime view of the outdoor Parisian scenery, he was instead directed to a seat further back in the dining hall.
“I much preferred my original choice of seat, which offered a very nice view of the outside,” explains Gackt. However, not wanting to cause a fuss, the singer obeyed the maître d’s instructions and took the seat he was assigned to, despite the fact that the entire dining room was empty.
▼ Gackt peforming “Vanilla”, a staple of your average karaoke repertoire.
Shrugging the incident off, Gackt set about tucking into a hearty breakfast (where does he put it all?), but then, he noticed something else that struck him as unusual. A Caucasian guest entered the dining room and took the seat which Gackt originally wanted, to no comment from the maitre’d. Then, another fellow customer of Asian descent entered the restaurant and was immediately sent to the back near where Gackt was seated. A couple who Gackt reports as being of Chinese ethnicity then entered the room and were also sent over to his section. In fact, Gackt reports that all the visibly Asian customers who entered were sent to the back, while whites were seated near the front close to the windows.
Gackt writes: “Ahahahahaha! What completely blatant racial discrimination! It’s so obvious, isn’t it? I was so shocked at being subjected to such an obvious display of discrimination that I could only laugh.”
But that’s not all he did! On a mission now, Gackt left the restaurant and returned two minutes later. This time, he confidently strolled towards a table by the windows. Again, the maitre d’ attempted to usher him over to the back of the room, but this time, Gackt was ready.
“Why do I have to go over there?” he asked politely. “Please explain the reasoning to me.” Oh, did we mention that Gackt apparently speaks French?
We assume that the maitre d’ left the superstar alone at that point, as Gackt’s story ends here, but he does close by saying: “There is no point in getting angry when incidents of this nature occur. But it is also pointless to feel annoyed without saying something about it. It’s better to laugh it off and firmly refuse to stand for the nonsense.” Wise words, indeed!
Gackt’s fans were quick to weigh in, pointing out that perhaps Chinese customers with their unfortunate reputation for inappropriate behaviour abroad might have prompted the hotel staff to attempt to seat unruly Chinese (or, for simplicity, simply any Asians) away from Western guests. That’s still awful, though, and we reckon Gackt’s response was perfect.
Source: Livedoor News via Itai News
Main Image: Flickr © James Whitesmith