Forest Whitaker Falsely Accused Of Shoplifting

Given his age (51), his demeanor (calm) and his monetary situation (loaded), Forest Whitaker definitely doesn’t fall into the target shoplifter demographic, but that didn’t stop an employee at a New York City deli from frisking him after an item reportedly went missing. Nothing was found on the Last King Of Scotland actor, and now, he’s pretty pissed off about the situation.

According to TMZ, the incident in question happened on Friday morning. Whitaker was apparently making his way out of the deli when the employee approached and accused him of grabbing something off the shelf. Whitaker denied he did any such thing, but the employee didn’t take his word for it and rifled through the actor’s pockets. Not surprisingly, nothing was found, prompting the employee to apologize and ask the star not to call the police for fear it would cost him his job. Whitaker agreed, but unfortunately for the mystery employee, more than a few people noticed what happened and called in reports to various outlets.

I get wanting to protect a store against shoplifters. Just a few thieves a day can put a big hurting on a small store, but if you’re going to point the finger at someone, you really need to have witnessed the individual actually put something in his or her pocket. Otherwise, you open yourself up to an unfortunate incident of bad press such as this.