Is Great White Restaurant Melrose Guilty of Racism? Resto Said to Be Doing Damage Control - Invites Asian Diners and Influencers

After facing massive backlash online over a viral video allegedly showing the restaurant racially 'segregating' Asian diners, the Great White Restaurant is reportedly attempting some 'damage control' by inviting Asian guests and influencers.

The restaurant has since denied the racial allegations, claiming that its name has 'nothing to do with race' and that it was 'inspired by a shark.'

Former employees, however, allege that racial bias has long been part of the restaurant's 'management culture' with instructions to 'treat people of colour differently'.

In addition, multiple former employees have also come forward about the alleged 'sexual harassment' among female staff members.

Great White Restaurant Invites Asian Diners

To counter the backlash, co-founders Sam Cooper and Sam Trude are reportedly reaching out to Asian influencers and inviting Asian diners in an apparent attempt to rebuild the brand's image.

In an Instagram Reel posted by artist Tom Everhart, who thanked Trude for the invitation, wrote:

'A delicious night at Great White Venice with our Japanese friends and collectors! Thank you, Sam, for making it so sweet!'

On the reel, diners are seen seated at the main dining hall, enjoying their meals. The overlaid caption on the video read, 'A delicious night @greatwhite. Thank you for hosting our Japanese friends and collectors @samtrude [shark emoji] We love you!'

Comments on the post were turned off, though previews show that 33 comments were made before being hidden.

Reaching Out to Asian Food Influencers

TikTok user Ed Choi, who first called out and investigated the restaurant's alleged racist behavior, posted a new video revealing that Great White is now reaching out to Asian food influencers for potential paid partnerships.

According to a message Choi received, 'BTW [by the way], Great White is all of a sudden now trying to do paid partnerships with Asian food influencers.'

One commenter joked, 'Will the Asian influencers be put in the corner too when they eat there?'
Another quipped, 'I heard they're rebranding to Great Yellow just to be safe.'

In his video, Choi criticized Trude and Cooper for what he described as using Asians to cover up the controversy, calling it 'the worst and most unintelligent PR move I've ever seen from Great White, Gran Blanco, and the Sams (Sam Trude and Sam Cooper). I mean, it's straight out of the 1800s!'

Online backlash continues to mount, with people calling out the owners for deflecting instead of apologizing:

• '"Our Japanese friends" is so crazy to me 😭😭😭 Not even "our friends from Japan"'?!
• 'They'll do anything and everything rather than apologize.'
• 'I think the Sams have to be insane, right? What else could explain this?'
• '[It's like they corralled a group of Asian tourists as soon as they got off the plane and said, "Come eat here for free!"'
• 'It's definitely gaslighting. And they made sure to mention that they were Japanese — he'll end up with an Asian girlfriend next, watch.'

Others continued to urge people to boycott the restaurant, 'Asians and others who were discriminated against should just stop eating there.'