‘Ugh, they are black’: Couple sue broker who allegedly sent racist text before showing

NEW YORK (WABC) - A New York couple have filed a housing discrimination lawsuit after they say a real estate broker sent a racist text message while they were looking for an apartment to rent.

Lisa Renee Olaso and her fiancé, Cyril Christopher, were excited to relocate from Delaware to Queens in June after the former got a new job. A broker from Douglas Elliman Realty was scheduled to show them an apartment for rent.

The couple, who are both Black, say the broker never met them in person and instead saw them from a distance as they arrived for the showing. That’s when they say they got a racist text message from the broker that was meant for the property owner.

“As we were getting out of the car, I received a text message that said, “Ugh, they are black,” Olaso said.

Olaso told her fiancé to get back in the car. She then explained to the broker why.

“When she looked at her phone, she started to explain that there were previous Black tenants in the neighborhood and that they had caused a lot of trouble,” Olaso said.

The couple are now suing Douglas Elliman Realty, the broker and several people listed as owners of the property. Their attorney, Kenneth Mollins, argues that the text message did not occur in isolation.

“Unless the person receiving the text gets it in some context to know why she’s sending that. So, we believe the homeowner was in some way responsible here,” Mollins said.

A Douglas Elliman spokesperson said in a statement last Wednesday that the broker was fired from the company, which has “a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind.”

Olaso says the broker apologized, but the hurt remains.

“All of us get up as Americans and we work hard and we all should be treated fairly,” she said through tears.

Christopher says the experience was painful.

“It’s like judging a book by its cover. You haven’t even read the book, and you already made a judgment call,” he said.

Following the incident, the couple moved to Long Island.