Cosmopolitan Las Vegas Issues Apology to Meek Mill for Banning Rapper from Casino

Posted on: June 4, 2019, 04:13h. 

Last updated on: June 4, 2019, 04:13h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Just days after the Cosmopolitan denied hip hop star Meek Mill entry to a concert it was hosting, the Las Vegas hotel and casino took to Twitter to issue an apology, saying it had “zero tolerance for discrimination.”

Less than a week after the Cosmopolitan denied Meek Mill entrance to a concert, the Las Vegas casino issued an apology to the rapper. (Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for BET)

The rapper, whose legal name is Robert Rihmeek Williams, and two members of his security detail tried to enter the Cosmopolitan on May 25 to attend a DJ Mustard show, but they were stopped by security employees before he could get out of the vehicle.

In a video first obtained by TMZ, a Cosmopolitan security employee told Meek Mill that based on information the gaming venue had on the rapper, his business was being refused and that the property had a right to refuse service.

Stunned by the claim, Meek Mill pressed Cosmopolitan employees to enlighten him as to what that information was. The rapper would later take to social media to air his thoughts, accusing the casino of “extreme racism” in an Instagram post.

The hotel denied the rapper’s allegations of racism, calling the incident a matter of security. Cosmopolitan officials later said the musician was not permitted on the premises due to the hotel’s hotel’s Marquee Dayclub, the venue Meek Mill was looking to go to, being at capacity. However, the video aired by TMZ shows no mention of the Marquee Dayclub or Cosmopolitan staffers telling Meek Mill full capacity there was the reason he was denied entry.

Cosmopolitan To Meek: We’re Sorry

In the wake of the May 25 flap, Meek Mill said he had only been to the Cosmopolitan once before – in 2014 when he accompanied fellow rap star Nicki Minaj to a Jay-Z event.

They (the Cosmopolitan) telling black rappers they are banned from properties they own without incident … they just told me I was trespassing and I will be arrested I stepped in that hotel once at a jayz [sic] party without incident!,” Meek Mill would later say on Twitter.

Following the incident, Meek Mill’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, wrote a letter to the Cosmopolitan, reminding it that racial discrimination violates federal and state laws and could make the casino operator vulnerable to “significant monetary damages.”

On Friday, the Cosmopolitan published an apology to Meek Mill on Twitter. The gaming venue acknowledged “we did not act in a respectful manner and were wrong” while adding “Meek Mill has not had any prior incidents on our property.”

As of Tuesday morning, that tweet from Cosmopolitan had garnered 142 replies, 182 retweets, and 356 likes. The bulk of the replies to the Cosmopolitan’s apology tweet were comments or images admonishing the hotel and casino operator for its treatment of Meek Mill while others said the expression of regret was too little, too late.

As of this writing, the rapper was not among those that responded to the Cosmopolitan tweet.

Legal Threats Dropped

While some social media users thought the Cosmopolitan’s apology to Meek Mill was halfhearted and that it did little to alter the perception of racism, it appears to the rapper himself is satisfied.

Sources close to Meek Mill told CNN last Friday that “we appreciate the Cosmopolitan’s apology” and that the musician is no longer considering legal action against the Las Vegas gaming property.