A café in Massachusetts issued an apology after mistakenly refusing service to and calling 911 on a celebrated Black journalist, the report said.
The unusual incident happened when Philip Martin—an 71‑year‑old former GBH reporter—arrived at Caffè Nero in Cambridge on Thursday, before five o’clock, to meet fellow journalist Naomi Kooker. Kooker was seated first; Martin approached the counter, but the employee told him she had instructions not to serve him. Martin, shocked, asked if she was mixing him up with someone else, to which she replied, “No, it’s you. We have you on videotape.”
Both parties ended up dialing 911 while arguing. Police arrived, talked separately with Martin and the staff, and concluded it was a misunderstanding, allowing him back to meet Kooker. “I was intent on not being pushed out of the store based on someone’s faulty misidentification,” Martin told a local outlet.
A Caffè Nero spokesperson said in an email to the Boston Globe that the hostile exchange resulted from a “genuine case of mistaken identity” because a recent customer—who had behaved violently—looked similar in height, build, beard, and glasses. The prior incident had traumatized a barista, “triggering her response,” the spokesperson added.
Employees at the Central Square café have since received training to avoid such situations. The barista was shown a photograph of the real culprit and Martin, now baffled, insisted he does not resemble the pictured, younger, light‑skinned Black man. “I looked at the photo, and I told them, ‘He looks nothing like me,’” he said.
Martin has filed complaints with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and the Cambridge Human Rights Commission, detailing the humiliation he endured. He says he wants no one fired or a boycott, merely accountability for the encounter. “I told them I had no interest whatsoever in anyone being fired over this,” he told Boston.com.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
