Charlamagne tha God is forced to rearrange studio furniture for plus-size rapper suing Lyft for refusing to take her in car
Seating on the set of The Breakfast Club had to be abruptly revamped to accommodate a plus-sized rapper who is suing Lyft for discrimination due to her weight.
Dank Demoss, 36, filed the lawsuit in her native Detroit late last month, after filming her interaction with the driver in question.
The clip, upon going viral, garnered the attention of the show’s longtime host Charlamagne the God, who first welcomed the 489-pound artist with open arms.
However, the usual office chair reserved for guests was not as cooperative – too small to house the women and her robust figure.
The first minute of the episode thus saw the radio personality and other staffers frantically work to address this oversight – which was eventually solved by bringing out an entire couch.
‘This the only seat y’all got?’ she had asked just before, upon being faced with the first option.
‘What you want? What you need?’ Charlamagne, real name Lenard Larry McKelvey, said in response.
Within seconds, he and another staffer were wheeling out a couch meant for at least three – enough to satisfy the apparently peeved woman.
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Seating on the set of The Breakfast Club had to be abruptly revamped Monday to accommodate Dank Demoss, a plus-sized rapper who is suing Lyft for discrimination
Dank Demoss, 36, filed the lawsuit in her native Detroit late last month, after an unnamed driver for the service refused to pick her up last month because of her size. She recorded the encounter
‘This what I’m talking about. Good. This is accommodation,’ she said after seeing her new seat.
The interview ensued from there – following some audible silence from the show’s host and sidekicks like DJ Envy.
The seating substitution, moreover, remained in the Monday morning episode’s final cut, in both its audio and video versions.
McKelvey, meanwhile, kicked things off with some honesty – seemingly pouring salt in the figurative wound left by the potentially embarrassing development.
He told Demoss, whose real name is Dajua Blanding, when we first heard about your story you know there was a lot of jokes made – everybody made jokes including us.
‘But when I heard you was rapper,’ he added, ‘I was like you know why not have her up here and have a have a conversation.’
For the next 30 or so minutes, Demoss explained the incident, her upbringing, and rap career – and how she has retained attorneys Jonathan Marko and Zach Runyan to oversee her looming legal battle with the tech firm.
‘I knew that it was illegal, and I knew that it was wrong,’ she told Fox 2 Detroit just days before, claiming she could have fit in the sedan provided if given the chance.
The clip, upon going viral, garnered the attention of the show’s longtime host Charlamagne the God, who first welcomed the 489-pound artist with open arms. However, the usual office chair reserved for guests was not as cooperative – too small to house the women and her figure
Within seconds, he and another staffer were wheeling out a couch meant for at least three – enough to satisfy the apparently peeved woman
‘This what I’m talking about. Good. This is accommodation,’ she said after seeing her new seat. The interview ensued from there
‘I can fit in this car,’ she can be heard saying in footage posted to social media after being told by the unnamed driver she would need to order a larger Uber XL.
‘Believe me, you can’t,’ the unnamed man is heard saying in the clip, before offering to null the ride so she wouldn’t have to pay a fee.
An argument ensued, after which unfounded rumors emerged online that the driver had been terminated.
Lyft has yet to confirm as such, but did issue the following statement: ‘Lyft unequivocally condemns all forms of discrimination – we believe in a community where everyone is treated with equal respect and mutual kindness.
‘Our community guidelines and terms of service explicitly prohibit harassment or discrimination.’
The policy the spokesperson had pointed to states that drivers cannot deny riders based on any ‘protected characteristics,’ which include race, color, national origin and gender, and more. Size, however, is not mentioned.
‘The thing that bothered me for real that made me make that video is because they kept on saying I got the man fired,’ Demoss at one point told McKelvey, adding, ‘I never contacted them I never did nothing.’
For the next 30 or so minutes, Demoss explained the incident, her upbringing, and rap career – and how she has retained attorneys Jonathan Marko and Zach Runyan to oversee her looming legal battle with the tech firm
The policy the spokesperson had pointed to states that drivers cannot deny riders based on any ‘protected characteristics,’ which include race, color, national origin and gender, and more.
Things such as size, however, is not mentioned. The rideshare company has already been served with the lawsuit
She said that instead, she left the man and his car and ‘did what I had to do’ – retaining two attorneys who seemingly share her view of the altercation.
‘I knew that it was illegal, and I knew that it was wrong,’ Marko told Fox 2 last week after taking the case, framing the refusal to pick his client up as ‘no different than refusing someone transportation based on their race or religion.’
Runyan added: ‘Refusing someone transportation based on their weight is not only illegal, but dangerous.
‘Imagine the consequences if Ms. Blanding were unable to seek shelter after the driver left her stranded,’ he argued further. ‘This could have ended even worse than it did.’
The rideshare company has already been hit with the lawsuit, as it makes its way through the proper channels.
