Key Points
Nonbinary actor Wesley Han filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Soho Grand Hotel.
Han alleges a security guard forcibly removed them from the women’s restroom at the New York hotel.
The Korean American actor has appeared on Power Book II: Ghost, Russian Doll, and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens.
The Soho Grand Hotel doesn’t seem so great to Wesley Han.
The nonbinary actor, who has appeared on Power Book II: Ghost, Russian Doll, and Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, filed a discrimination lawsuit against the New York hotel on Wednesday.
Wesley Han as Pinky on ‘Power Book II: Ghost’ with Michael Rainey Jr
Credit: Paul Schiraldi/Starz/Everett
According to the complaint reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, Han was attending a private event at the luxury hotel on March 5 and attempted to use the ladies’ room while dressed in “women’s slacks, heels, earrings, a purse, and a Dion Lee blazer — an elegant, unmistakably feminine-coded outfit that reflected Wesley’s style, identity, and confidence.”
While in a private stall, Han heard a security guard ask women in the restroom’s foyer, “Excuse me, ladies, have you seen a man enter?”
Han’s discrimination lawsuit alleges the security guard was told “no,” but entered the women’s room regardless and walked straight to Han’s stall. In a “commanding tone,” the guard instructed Han, “Come on out of there.”
Han complied, but their request to wash their hands was denied, adds the complaint: “Instead, the security guard escorted Wesley to the men’s restroom, where Wesley washed their hands.”
As a result, Han “suffered humiliation, embarrassment, emotional distress, mental anguish, and other compensatory damages in an amount to be determined at trial.”
“What was supposed to be a fun and memorable evening instead turned into a deeply humiliating and distressing ordeal,” Han’s complaint states.
Entertainment Weekly reached out to Wesley Han’s lawyer and the Soho Grand Hotel for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
Han appeared in five episodes of the Power spinoff, Power Book II: Ghost, as private investigator Pinky. The Korean American actor also works as a model and was featured in a 2022 Sephora commercial.
“Skincare and makeup have been such a huge part of my identity – especially when it comes to my gender presentation,” Han wrote on Instagram at the time, “and it meant a lot to me to have my first big commercial project be for a major beauty brand.”
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On Han’s website, the actor also shares the inspiration for their projects.
“As a queer person of color, Wesley believes that all storytellers have a duty to create and shape narratives that effect positive change in the world,” Han’s bio reads. “At a time when there is so much to grieve, it is easy to share stories of grief – and of trauma, and of suffering – but there must be joy, as well, or we will never find healing.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly