'Ugh. They are Black': NYC broker typed text for property owners, mistakenly sent to the couple hunting for apartments

A couple has filed a lawsuit against a real estate brokerage company, an agent and several property owners after they said they were racially discriminated against when they were seeking to rent an apartment in Queens. A message that was meant to be sent only to the owners, cautioning them that the couple was Black was also sent to them by mistake, they claimed.

According to Eyewitness News ABC7NY, Lisa Renee Olaso and her fiancée, Cyril Christopher, said they were excited to move to 26th Avenue in Flushing in June after relocating from Delaware because Olaso had a new job. They said a broker from Douglas Elliman was scheduled to meet them to show them a rental apartment. The broker did not meet them in person and only saw from a distance.

Olaso said she was accidentally included on a text message intended for the property owner. "As we were getting out of the car, I received the text message that said, 'Ugh. They are Black,'" Olaso said. The broker tried to control the damage and said there were previous episodes with Black tenants. "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.

Olaso said the broker apologized, but the incident continues to affect her. The couple is suing Douglas Elliman Realty, Tzelios and several people listed as owners of the property. Their attorney Kenneth Mollins said the text message did not occur in isolation and so they included everyone in their lawsuit. "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.

In a statement provided Wednesday, a Douglas Elliman spokesperson said: "Douglas Elliman has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, and the agent is no longer with the company."

"It's like judging a book by its cover. You haven't even read the book, and you already made a judgement call," Christopher said. Olaso said an apology from the broker did not ease the pain caused by the racial profiling. "It doesn’t change the pain. It doesn’t take away the pain you caused us that day," Olaso said.