Courtesy Kahlil Robert Irving
On Monday, Kahlil Robert Irving, an artist who’s logged exhibitions at Mass MOCA, the New Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art, filed a racial discrimination complaint against the High Line Hotel in Manhattan’s West Chelsea neighborhood due to an instance of alleged verbal assault and trespassing the artist says took place in January.
“On the morning of January 22, 2022, two days into Mr. Irving’s stay at the High Line Hotel, the hotel manager entered unannounced into Mr. Irving’s hotel room at around 7.30 a.m. while he was asleep,” the complaint, filed with the New York State Division of Human Rights by Irving and his attorney, Laurence Eisenstein, and which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, states.
His room door had not been left entirely shut. The manager allegedly asked if Irving was OK, and then half an hour later returned with an associate. “The two men are said to have verbally abused and threatened Mr. Irving, targeting Mr. Irving because he is Black. The complaint says the men stated they were calling the police and accused Mr. Irving of being a homeless person.”