Posted on 12/04/2024 4:23:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
A prominent South Florida rabbi is calling out the Fontainebleau at Miami Beach after claiming he was subjected to a verbal tirade in the hotel’s lobby on Sunday night.
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who recorded the confrontation with his cellphone, said he was met with offensive remarks, including threats and derogatory language, an incident he says highlights the growing issue of antisemitism.
“You like to kill babies…you know that,” a man can be heard saying in the video, followed by, “I will spit on your face right now, get out of the lobby right now.”
The man also allegedly called Boteach a “baby killer,” a “son of a b----,” and a “p----,” while shouting, “Free Palestine, mother f-----.”
Boteach responded to the incident, saying, “If I as a Jew is not safe in this hotel, you are not safe.”
The Fontainebleau issued a statement condemning the language used, calling it “abhorrent” and emphasizing that it does not represent the hotel’s values.
“A verbal altercation occurred over the weekend between two individuals in the lobby of our hotel. During this isolated incident, one of the individuals used abhorrent language, which we find horrific and will not be tolerated on our property. Our security team prioritized de-escalating the incident to prevent any physical altercation, and once the individuals left on their own accords, we proactively engaged with the Miami Beach Police Department. We sincerely apologize to those impacted by this individual’s words, which in no way represent our company’s views.”
Boteach has announced plans to file a $100 million lawsuit against the Fontainebleau, accusing the hotel of failing to prevent the incident.
“We are going to file a $100 million lawsuit against the Fontainebleau’s bigotry, racism, and antisemitism,” he said.
From what was posted here, I think the hotel acted the best it could.
I have heard of this Rabbi. I recall his uncommon last name.
It’s horrible that he was treated that way. No one deserves to be a target of such hate ignorance. However, unless he can show a pattern of such incidents in that hotel, his lawsuit may not succeed. There are potentially dumb, hateful people in any walkway of life.
This Rabbi is very well known. For that reason, it is likely he will be offered a decent sized settlement, mainly to quiet him down.
Yes, he’s been famous for a while, but lower profile lately.
The 2024 Florida Statutes
Title XLVI
CRIMES
Chapter 784
ASSAULT; BATTERY; CULPABLE NEGLIGENCE
784.0493 Harassment or intimidation based on religious or ethnic heritage.—
(1) As used in this section, the terms “credible threat” and “harass” have the same meaning as in s. 784.048(1).
(2) A person may not willfully and maliciously harass or intimidate another person based on the person’s wearing or displaying of any indicia relating to any religious or ethnic heritage.
(3) A person who violates subsection (2) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
(4) A person who violates subsection (2), and in the course of committing the violation makes a credible threat to the person who is the subject of the harassment or intimidation, commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
(5) A violation of this section is considered a hate crime for purposes of the reporting requirements of s. 877.19.
Suing the hotel with the deepest pockets and not the civilian who verbally assaulted him speaks volumes about what he cares about.
Lost all sympathy for him when I got to the lawsuit plans. Unless he can prove the man who insulted him is an employee of the hotel acting in the course of his duties or an employee of the hotel with a course of conduct of insulting certain guests, the court should award him a one way ticket to Afghanistan.
He used to write fairly regularly at one point and I read just about everything I saw of his.
SCHMULY IS A SCHMUCK!!! He said he was BEST FRIENDS WITH MICHAEL JACKSON!! UGH!! HOLY MAN????NAH!
Mainly those that are used by their parents..
Boteach started as a Chabad-Lubavitch representative, and had credibility based on that. He started being closer to Hollywood-types and craving pop culture attention beyond Chabad limits and was dismissed.
It’s now doubtful that he is considered Jewish Orthodox at all, much less an Orthodox rabbi.
I doubt antisemites see much difference.
He should sue the hotel for $1 billion.
At all.
I hope no one calls this Rabbi a money hungry jew, you might get sued and/or put in the pokey for a hate crime.
Wait.... was the verbal abuser an employee of the hotel?
IF it was not, then the rabbi has no cause of action and is just another lawfare scammer going after someone with deep pockets.....
Well, he is that anyway, because even if the person who verbally abused him was the manager of the hotel, or the owner, the incident is really only deserving of maybe $10,000 or $20,000. A hundred million dollars for hurt feelings is ridiculous.
Why would he sue the hotel? It wasn’t even an employee of the place that yelled at him.
Nah - you see it from all the grievance police.
He didn’t deserve to be verbally attacked like that but he’s obviously trying to grift off of it.
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