Two thick and curvy women were denied entry to a Hollywood nightclub, and they are speaking out after the embarrassment.
According to plus-sized models Gabriella Halikas and Alexa Jay, they think they’ve been body-shamed.
According to them via the New York Post;
Plus-size models Gabriella Halikas and Alexa Jay are virally blasting Los Angeles hot spot the Highlight Room for allegedly denying them access into the club due to the sizes of their bodies. “We’re feeling absolutely sick to our stomachs about what happened,” says Halikas, 25, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, in her trending Instagram tell-all.
Her two-part video series has amassed a combined 2.1 million views.
“I got invited to Highlight Room for my friend’s birthday,” says Jay, a 24-year-old curvy influencer, noting that she was “definitely the biggest” person on line for the party. “The [club] promoter starts letting in the whole group of girls,” Jay continues. “And when it gets to me, the bouncer puts the rope in front, looks me up and down and says, ‘Yeah, not tonight.’ ”
And even after Jay explained that she was with the party of women he’d just admitted into the club, the doorman allegedly doubled down on his refusal to grant her entry. “At that point, it was extremely apparent what was going on,” she says. “I was being discriminated against [because] of the size of my body.”
And when Halikas intervened, hoping for an explanation from the unnamed guy about his apparent prejudice, the bouncer allegedly told her to bounce, too. “I’m like, ‘Hi sir, it’s just us four. What’s going on?’ ” she recalls asking the man in a “super calm” tone.
Her peaceful approach notwithstanding, the brunette claimed the club’s cruel watchman “looked me up and down and was like, ‘Not tonight.’” In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for Tao Group Hospitality, which owns the Highlight Room, said, in part: “We are aware of Ella and Alexa’s experience.
“The doorman on this particular evening worked for a third-party promotion company and we’ve removed this individual from the door effective immediately,” thestatement continues. “Our company does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
But on Instagram, the lookers insisted that this wasn’t an isolated incident.
In fact, the full-figure foxes claimed that they’d previously been barred from other nightclubs and lounges owing to their shapes. “We’re tired of playing safe. We’re tired of just letting this happen and not speaking up about it,” Halikas says in her video.
“It was so dehumanizing,” Jay adds, claiming that the Highlight Room doorman treated her and Halikas as if they were “the scum of the earth.” “It was like we were being looked through,” she says. “If you experienced any type of discrimination like this, you know exactly how horrible and disgusting it feels and we are no longer letting this fly.”
“You got me f–ked up!” Jay exclaims.
Flip to the next page for photos of the plus sized models.