Los Angeles – Get Out star Lil Rel Howery, star of Fox’s upcoming Rel, slated to premiere this fall, shared a live Instagram account of being booted from a Popeyes Chicken location in Hollywood around 3 a.m. Saturday morning over a dispute following an order mistake made by Popeyes staff.
Footage can be viewed at Howery’s Instagram page.
Howery placed, according to footage, a $12 order, for which he displayed the receipt on camera. When the live feed began, the comedian was in a dispute with staff, saying his order was placed into another customer’s bag after a staff member assumed they were together. Howery asked for the food he paid for, and was refused. After he insisted, the staff told him to “come back tomorrow” to receive his order. He demanded his money back instead, and was told he was “trespassing” and ordered to leave.
Howery remained in the restaurant and demanded a refund, while management threatened to call the police.
“Call them!” he replied.
“Call the f**kin’ police – please! If you f**k me up, it’s gonna be a news story,” he said. “I didn’t do s**t wrong! You didn’t give me my f**kin’ food!”
When staff attempted to calm him, he shouted, “Y’all not black in America!”
“She told me to leave and come back tomorrow,” he yelled in outrage.
The Instagram story video was viewed around the world as dawn broke on the East Coast.
Howery finally agreed to leave when a young, black, female employee offered to pay him $12 from her pocket, concerned LAPD would be called in and escalate the situation. The comedian and actor declined her offer and left, citing fear of repercussions for the employee.
Howery had words for the fast food chicken chain.
“Popeyes, can I warn y’all right now? I have a f**kin’ TV show.”
He implied that the scenario might be portrayed in an episode of his sitcom this fall.
“This is a f**kin’ episode. You gave my food away. Give me my money back!”
Around 3:30 a.m. Pacific time, Howery returned to Instagram Story with more thoughts on the matter.
Prior to his breakout role in Academy Award winning horror film Get Out, Howery starred as the younger brother of fellow comedian Jerrod Carmichael on NBC’s short lived The Carmichael Show.
Carmichael serves as an executive producer of Rel, a multi-camera sitcom recently ordered to series by Fox.
