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Man says Motel 6 TV greeted him with “N word”
In a story first reported by local Ohio ABC and CBS affiliates and which has subsequently gone viral around the Internet, a Dayton man, Joseph Ross, says he checked into a Motel 6 in Sharonville to find the words, "Hello (N-word)!" on his TV screen.
Ross immediately called the local chapter of the NAACP as well as the corporate offices of Motel 6. Derrick Forward, president of the Dayton NAACP chapter arrived and confirmed that the message was actually on the TV. Ross was in Sharonville for a local jazz music festival.
Motel 6 did not deny the allegations but issued a statement to TravelMole today that said:
"At Motel 6, we are proud of the great diversity of the guests that we serve, and we are completely appalled by the offensive slur that appeared on our guest’s television screen Friday. We are investigating to determine how this mishap occurred, and after inspecting other rooms this appears to be an isolated incident.
"As soon as the guest reported this incident, hotel management promptly began an investigation. Local law enforcement initiated a criminal investigation, which is ongoing at this moment. And, with our apologies for our guest’s experience, we moved him to another room. Additional facts stemming from the investigation include:
- This was the only room in the hotel property where the racially-offensive message appeared.
- The guest who stayed in this same room two nights before – on Wednesday evening, July 25 – saw the same offensive message but unfortunately did not report it to anyone within the Motel 6 organization.
- The guest who stayed in the room the night before that, July 24, told police he did not see such a message when he turned on his TV.
- As far as we know, based on the investigation to date, no one working for this property had any knowledge of this message being placed on this particular TV screen or any role in putting it there.
- This message or, indeed, any offensive TV message, has never been reported as appearing at any (other) Motel 6 property anywhere in the U.S.
"Going forward, Motel 6 will reinforce the existing housekeeping procedure relating to TV inspections between guest stays to ensure television screens have not been tampered with, such as the insertion of this type of offensive message. Motel 6 continues to cooperate fully with the Sharonville Police Department."
Gretchen Kelly
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