"I'm just Black today": Burger King blackface video leads to Minnesota discrimination charge

A customer who recorded a Burger King employee wearing blackface at a Faribault, Minnesota, drive-through on Halloween has filed a discrimination charge with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, her attorneys said Thursday.

Shavelle Devine's charge alleges race and color discrimination in public accommodations and business under the Minnesota Human Rights Act, according to a news release from her attorneys, David Schlesinger and Lucas Kaster of Schlesinger Kaster, PLLC. The release doesn't say whether the charge names Burger King, the restaurant's franchisee or the employee, or whether the department has taken any action on it. A charge is an allegation, not a finding.

Devine recorded the encounter Oct. 31 after seeing the employee working the drive-through window with her face covered in dark makeup, the release says. In the video, which has since gone viral, the employee says, "I'm just Black today." She later says, "I just wanted to be Black."

Blackface "carries a deeply painful history rooted in racism, humiliation, discrimination, and the dehumanization of African Americans," Devine said in the release.

"I should not have had to explain to an employee serving customers why what she was doing was offensive," she said. "And I should not have been put in that position simply because I went to Burger King that day."

A Burger King spokesperson said in a statement to WCCO on Tuesday that the company takes the matter "very seriously" and that the franchisee is addressing it with the restaurant's team, manager and the employee "to ensure everyone involved understands why this is not acceptable and won't happen again." The statement didn't address the charge or say whether the employee has been disciplined or fired.

Devine believes important questions remain unanswered, including how an employee wearing blackface was allowed to work and interact with customers, according to the release.

The Minnesota Human Rights Act makes it an unfair discriminatory practice to deny someone the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services and facilities of a place of public accommodation because of race or color, the release says, citing state statute 363A.11.

"It is difficult to believe that in 2026 we still have to explain why blackface is unacceptable," Schlesinger said. He said Devine had every right to expect to use a drive-through without being subjected to an offensive racial caricature with a degrading history.