Lawyers for the Perry Ellis fashion label have categorically denied claims by a former employee that the firm’s boss is homophobic and racist.
A former employee is suing the Perry Ellis label after claiming that the company’s president Oscar Feldenkreis demanded that there be “no blacks in my ads” or “anyone who looked too gay”. Cook claims he was “frozen out” after he made a complaint.
The action is being brought by a former employee, Joseph Cook who claims that he endured highly offensive homophobic, racial and ethnic slurs” from Feldenkreis and alleges that during a meeting to discuss an advertising campaign the president told him he did not want anyone who looked too gay” in the campaign.
The company, which is named after its gay founder, denies all allegations saying that “it is probably one of the most diverse companies in the apparel business following its multicultural roots, stemming from Puerto Rico and Cuba.”Perry Ellis founded the company in 1978. he died at the age of 46 in New York in 1986.
