'Unattractive' Women 'Switched Out' When Trump Visited His LA Golf Club, Suit Alleges
RANCHO PALOS VERDES (CBSLA.com) — Trump's exclusive Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles perched in picturesque Rancho Palos Verdes is now at the center of bias accusations. In legal documents first published by the LA Times, former staffers here unleashed a slew of ugly allegations against Trump in a lawsuit that has since been settled.
Among the accusations: Trump fat shamed employees at the golf club's restaurant and demanded they be given the boot because of their weight.
A former catering director said this about the billionaire real estate mogul:
"I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were not 'pretty enough' and that they should be fired and be replaced with more attractive women.'
Another staffer also said she was told to fire someone because they were too heavy:
"Mr. Stellio told me that I should do this because Mr. Trump doesn't like fat people and that he would not like seeing (her) when he was on the premises."
Staffers also reported fearing Trump's wrath, so they replaced middle-aged hostesses at the restaurant with younger, more attractive women when Trump was visiting.
Trump's organization called the claims totally bogus in the following statement:
"The allegations in the lawsuit were meritless. We do not engage in discrimination of any kind. The statements made by a group of former disgruntled employees are far from an accurate portrayal of what it is like to work at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles."
True or not, some say Trump cannot be faulted for running a business.
"I know all the ladies are going to hate me but that's the truth," Ellie Khorsandi said. "If you put an image that this is the way it is – come to my restaurant all the girls are pretty. You know they have their tops all the way down. It's going to attract more customers.
But some have a different take on the lawsuit.
"There's no reason why your looks should be determining what job you're getting," Alexandra Immgruth said.
