Paris Restaurant Defends Decision to Turn Away Serena Williams

Serena Williams’ Complaint

Ser­e­na Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam cham­pi­on, took to social media to pub­licly com­plain about being denied access to the rooftop of The Penin­su­la Hotel in Paris, despite the restau­rant appear­ing to be empty.

Williams expressed her frus­tra­tion, stat­ing that she had “been denied access to [the] rooftop to eat in a emp­ty restau­rant of nicer places” and that this was “always a first” for her.

The Restaurant’s Response

The five-star hotel was quick to respond to Williams’ com­plaint, post­ing a mes­sage on social media just two hours after her ini­tial post.

The Penin­su­la Hotel team explained that the rooftop bar was “indeed ful­ly booked” and that the only unoc­cu­pied tables belonged to their gourmet restau­rant, L’Oiseau Blanc, which was also ful­ly reserved.

The hotel offered their “deep­est apolo­gies for the dis­ap­point­ment” and assured Williams that they have “always been hon­ored to wel­come you and will always be to wel­come you again.”

Debate on Celebrity Entitlement

The inci­dent sparked a debate on social media, with some fans sup­port­ing Williams and crit­i­ciz­ing the restau­ran­t’s deci­sion, while oth­ers argued that the hotel was with­in its rights to turn her away if the venue was ful­ly booked, regard­less of her celebri­ty status.

One user com­ment­ed, “How does one get denied when they are Ser­e­na Williams…… lol,” while anoth­er said, “Wait are we real­ly telling this place that because she’s a celebri­ty they should have fig­ured it out? No. If they’re booked, they’re booked and it’s enti­tled as heck to be upset that they did­n’t fig­ure it out because ‘I’m special.’ ”

Oth­ers defend­ed Williams, with one user stat­ing, “Glad you did­n’t have to waste mon­ey there,” and anoth­er sug­gest­ing, “You’re bet­ter off not going, their food is sub­par — I’ve unfor­tu­nate­ly had to pay for it quite a few times.”