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(Courtesy Founders Brewing)
Feeling the heat from a racial discrimination lawsuit that was brought on by a fired manager, Michigan’s largest brewery has pulled out of Detroit’s biggest beer event.
Not a great look…
Crain’s Detroit is reporting that “Founders Brewing Co. has pulled out of this weekend’s Detroit Fall Beer Festival, one of the state’s biggest all-local-beer tasting events, amid backlash surrounding a racial discrimination lawsuit.”
The festival, which is sponsored by the Michigan Brewers Guild, will be hosting 125 Michigan breweries this weekend…But Grand Rapids headquartered Founders Brewing, which opened a Detroit taproom in late 2017, will no longer be one of them.
In a statement guild representative, Dianna Stampfler confirmed Founder’s last minute exit…
“Occasionally we have brewery members drop out of a festival, and while that is unfortunate, the celebration this weekend will be about all the great Michigan breweries and beers that are present,”
Things got hot for Founders this week following a Monday Detroit Metro Times report involving a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by former Founders employee Tracy Evans, a former events and promotions manager at Founders’ Detroit taproom, which was filed last year.
The Detroit Metro Times first obtained and reported on a leaked deposition in which a manager reportedly claimed he did not know Evans is black.
Founders responded to the publication’s article on its website, arguing that Evan’s dismissal was based on poor job performance not racial discrimination… It also defended Dominic Ryan, who fired the plaintiff, unwillingness to identify Tracy Evans as black…
“Through this testimony, Mr. Ryan was simply saying that he does not assume anything about individuals’ race or ethnicity unless they tell him that information.”
“While it might be acceptable to speculate about this type of thing in casual conversation, Mr. Ryan was not having a casual conversation. He was under oath when he made these statements. As all deponents are instructed, Mr. Ryan was directed not to guess, assume or speculate in his deposition.”
“The fact that Mr. Evans is selectively leaking this type of information to you indicates that, unlike Founders, he has no evidence to support his position in this case.”
This escalating controversy reached critical mass this week after the Washington Post and Newsweek took the story national…Which no doubt influenced Founders’ decision to drop out of the Michigan Brewers Guild Fall Beer Festival, where they have previously hosted one of the largest and most popular beer stands at the annual event.
