Black owners of Texas restaurant accused of racism after introducing extensive dress code

Turkey Leg Hut – a Houston, Texas restaurant owned by an African-American couple – has been accused of racism after unveiling a lengthy dress code which includes bans on ripped jeans, cleavage, and baggy pants.

The restaurant, which specializes in turkey legs, published its new dress code on Friday to heavy criticism online.

The dress code included bans on cleavage, exposed thighs and buttocks, swimwear, sports bras, tank tops, ripped jeans, clothes with “offensive graphics,” various hats including “bonnets, du rags” and bandanas, and “excessively baggy or sagging pants.”

“Please know that we are a family friendly restaurant that serves all ages from children to adults daily and putting this dress code in place was necessary to ensure that all parties from our guests to our staff are dressed appropriately when in our establishment,” the restaurant declared, adding that it was forced to implement the dress code “due to the attire of some guests” who had visited.

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“We are not a club,” Turkey Leg Hut continued, before concluding that it wants to maintain a certain level of standards.

Though Turkey Leg Hut is black-owned and boasts a large mural of George Floyd outside its restaurant, some social media users called the dress code “Anti-Black” and “internalized racist.”

“This is the most racist & sexist thing I have ever seen,” one woman complained, while some claimed the policy would keep local black patrons from eating at the restaurant.

Disappointed in the owners for this one. Neighborhood black ppl made them rich, are their regular patrons, and their restaurant literally sits in the middle of the hood. Maybe a few rules I get, but looks like half the people who made them famous can’t even dine there anymore????

— I Am Your Khaleesi (@TheDejaKing) July 2, 2021

Others dug up photos of one of the co-owners wearing ripped jeans at the restaurant – an explicitly banned item of clothing on the new dress code – and joked about what clothes would be required to enter.

Rules for thee, but not for me ????. pic.twitter.com/6d0ddZxzXi

— Amy (@AmyKono) July 2, 2021

“Hath thee ready for our outing to the Turkey Leg Hut, dear?” pic.twitter.com/azmmU0hRpt

— Chris in CLT (@chriso140) July 2, 2021

On my way! to the Turkey Hut pic.twitter.com/xuocNv4k7A

— BURRATATATA(x5)TAH - Missy E, Fellow ???? Enthusiast (@vilvaraja) July 2, 2021

“I’ve been to weddings with more relaxed dress codes,” one user commented, while one Michigan woman wrote, “Not putting on my best fit to go to a place with hut in its name.”

Still, not everyone was a critic of Turkey Leg Hut’s strict dress code.

“God forbid a black owned establishment have a standard of decency. People know how to dress when they go to white and Asian owned restaurants,” one man weighed in.

It’s not the first time the Turkey Leg Hut owners have found themselves in trouble recently. In May, it was reported that co-owner Lyndell Price received a court date facing charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he was accused of hitting a man in the head with a gun and threatening to kill him during an altercation.

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