A racial discrimination lawsuit against the Founders brewery by a fired ex-employee has blown up into a brew-haha after parts of a deposition of one of the managers came out. In it the manager said he didn’t know if the person who filed the lawsuit was black, and didn’t know if Barack Obama or Kwame Kilpatrick were black because he had never met them.
Some Detroit bars and restaurants have stopped selling Founders products. Founders is the largest brewer in Michigan.
The former manager says he was fired because he is black. The owners say the man didn’t do his job well enough.
Founders has closed a taproom in Detroit at least temporarily.
Co-owner Dave Engbers tells Paul W. Smith it was a difficult decision to terminate the employee: