Popular Atlanta restaurant owner Aisha “Pinky” Cole, widely known for her Slutty Vegan restaurant chain, speaks out after NBC’s Today show canceled her interview following a lawsuit filed by a former employee.
The multifaceted entrepreneur was scheduled to appear on the morning show on Thursday. She was excited to showcase her brand until she received a call from a crew member notifying her Today had canceled the interview because they did not want to be attached to the alleged negative “storyline.”
“TODAY SHOW CANCELLED MY SEGMENT,” Cole wrote in an Instagram post alongside a caption addressing the lawsuit and expressing her sadness following the scrapped dream interview for an allegation she deems false.
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The full post reads:
Since I was a kid, I have only operated with integrity. I don’t lie, I don’t steal and more importantly, I DON’T PLAY WITH PEOPLE’S MONEY.
Maybe it’s the Caribbean in me, but God won’t bless you when you operate in a fraudulent spirit.
This week, I was named in a lawsuit for one of my companies, Bar Vegan, alongside my partners, over alleged unpaid wages from one employee. Again, ALLEGED.
Up until this point, I was not familiar with this ordeal or the employee, because I don’t run day to day operations at Bar Vegan.
But because it’s a SEXY STORY to make a community leader look like a bad guy, this has become headline news.
What do I gain withholding someone’s hard earned money when my blessings overflow EVERYDAY? When I’m helping people EVERYDAY! When I’m using my resources to put people on EVERYDAY.. employees included! My life’s work is in service, and this negativity don’t match my name.
The people who know me, know I ONLY operate in integrity, so this is a wicked narrative especially when this is nothing more than an allegation.
My lawyers have advised me not to comment on this, but now my reputation is being compromised and I’m being removed from an opportunity that I worked my entire life for.
At the end of the day, my name means more to me than any money that could EVER go in my bank account- and I will NEVER let anybody destroy that.
To get a call that I was removed from tomorrows show because they don’t want to be involved in the storylines, is bizarre to me, but all good.
That’s the price you pay when you decide to be a boss. Double edged sword.
This was a big moment for my career, but God has other plans.
So news reporters, you happy now?y’all can stop calling me, here is your answer. BUT make sure you highlight all the good I’m doing while you’re fishing for clicks.
The lawsuit is from a former employee, Morgan Georgia, who worked at one of Cole’s Bar Vegan restaurants in Atlanta’s Ponce City Market. The plaintiff claims that she only made $2.13 an hour, less than the state’s federal minimum wage, and the restaurant withheld a portion of her tips, according to Fox 5.
“The allegations are and what our clients say is that Bar Vegan was keeping a large percentage of tips to cover operational costs in the restaurants,” attorney Travis Foust said, according to Fox 5. He represents Georgia and other former employees who claim the same happened to them.
Cole isn’t engaged in the restaurant’s day-to-day operations because she has co-owners who manage the Atlanta location. Her partners claim they are innocent and have never taken money from their workers. In response to the lawsuit, court documents say the establishment “paid compensation beyond that to which they were entitled while employed by Bar Vegan, such additional compensation would satisfy, in whole or in part, any alleged claim for unpaid minimum wages and/or overtime or other monetary relief.”
The former employees who filed the lawsuit hope to receive payment for tips they never received and legal fees.
Later on Thursday, Cole announced she had closed on a property in Washington, D.C., for the next Slutty Vegan location.
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