Women Say Officer Removed Them From Public Restroom After Makeup Dispute: ‘Is It Because We’re Black?’

A video posted to X has sparked debate online after two women claimed they were asked to leave a public restroom while touching up their makeup. The women said they were told to stop applying makeup in the bathroom, but they questioned whether the request was really about cosmetics or if there was a deeper, racially motivated reason behind it.

The clip begins with the two women touching up their makeup in a public restroom. It seems they started filming after some sort of confrontation occurred. They are talking amongst themselves about a woman who came in and gave them grief for doing their makeup in the bathroom. They discuss it for a while, when suddenly you hear a man enter the restroom.

He’s yelling, “Male coming in! Male coming in,” before he tells the women that they have to exit the bathroom. “You guys gotta go. Not here. She told you that you can’t put makeup on.” He continues to tell the women that they had to leave the restroom because putting on makeup wasn’t allowed.

The Women Thought This Was Racially Motivated

The women appeared confused by the request. Bathrooms have mirrors, and the women were standing in front of them applying makeup. This caused one of the women to ask, “Is it because we’re Black?” She alleged they were being treated differently because they were Black.

“Really?” the man answered back. “Yes,” the woman said, doubling down. She felt discriminated against and wasn’t going to back down. 

The man claims they are being asked to leave because they are being obnoxious, though throughout the video they appear respectful. However, we did not see the initial confrontation. The women continue to argue with him, wondering if there is actually a rule that says no one can do makeup in the public restroom. 

They are then accused of trespassing. The video does not clarify why the women were told they were trespassing. However, the man stands firm that they have to leave. The women continue to ask if it is because they are Black. He claims it is not the reason.

“You’re a grown man talking to a young woman,” she says, calling him disrespectful. She says his hostility is because they are Black, and that their initial run-in with a woman in the bathroom wasn’t anything serious. Now, they’re being kicked out.

The women tell the man that they are on their way out. They then clarify that it was a police officer who entered the bathroom. They were uncomfortable that the police didn’t send a female officer. Instead, he made matters more uncomfortable by entering an all-woman space.

“Using the bathroom while being Black,” one of the women says. “That’s a new one.” They are eventually escorted out of the bathroom by the officer.

It’s unclear the true reason why they were told to leave the bathroom. It is unclear why the women were ultimately asked to leave. The video does not include the initial interaction, making it impossible to determine what prompted the encounter.