14 DAY TRIAL // Last month, Toni Christina Jenkins working at Red Lobster in Tennessee posted a receipt a patron left behind for her: it included no tip and had the N-word written where the “Total” should have been. The patron was later identified as Devin Barnes but, he says, he isn’t guilty of racism.
WSMV reports that Barnes has hired an expert to prove that it’s not his handwriting on the receipt. He maintains that, while it’s true he didn’t leave a tip, he didn’t write the N-word – and neither did his wife, who was with him on that night.
Mention must be made that, after Jenkins posted the receipt online and it went viral, a fundraiser was held for her and, at the end of it, she received the tip of a lifetime: $10,000 (€7,310) in donations from people who felt sorry for her.
At the same time, her action ruined Barnes’ life, he claims.
“It's been horrific. I mean, I just have been getting all these threats and everything. I'm not mad. I just didn't like what happened. I just wish it didn't come out this way,” he tells WSMV in his first interview since the incident.
“I didn't do this. I just asked my parents, 'Why is this happening to me?' I mean, I didn't do nothing. Me and my wife were just trying to go out to eat, have a nice time,” he adds.
He feels he was seriously wronged: Jenkins’ act violated his privacy and exposed him to public contempt – and might have even put him in physical danger. Even worse, it did so when he wasn’t really guilty.
Because the waiter should have never posted the receipt online, Barnes is suing Red Lobster for damages. Asked directly who he thinks might have written the N-word, he refuses to commit with an answer.
“I'm not going to point the finger at nobody. I know for a fact me and my wife didn't do it,” he says. So who did it then?