Australian Casino says Simmons and his friends were permitted entry.
Philadelphia 76ers All Star Ben Simmons posted a video on his instagram story over the weekend, detailing how he was unexpectedly turned away from the Crown Casino in his native Australia.
In the since deleted video, Simmons describes (H/T TMZ):
“I find it so crazy that the only guy who doesn’t get checked to go into the casino is this guy,” Simmons said while pointing to his Caucasian buddy.
“I get checked, Mike gets checked and Taj gets checked,” Ben added. His white buddy then chimes in, “Not me!”
While showing the security guards, Ben says, “Thank you, Crown Casino.”
He added, “They didn’t let me in, or him or this guy. Wow, we got a long way to go.”
However, a spokeswoman for Crown Casino says Simmons and his friends weren’t denied, and were simply asked to provide ID.
“Crown strenuously rejects reports that it discriminated against a group visitors last night,” the statement said.
“Crown’s internal security policy requires our security ficers to check identification those persons they believe to be under the age 25, this is an enhanced safeguard to ensure that no one under the age 18 is permitted entry to the Casino Floor as required by Law.”
“The group subsequently provided identification and were permitted entry. Crown is an inclusive workplace.”
Simmons issued the following response on twitter on Tuesday morning: “As you know an incident happened last night at Crown and my friends and I felt personally singled out, no one likes to feel like this. I am very passionate about equality and I will always speak up even if it means having uncomfortable conversations.”
Check out footage from the incident in the videos embedded below.