Last year, Beverly Hills police department came under fire following the arrest of television producer Charles Belk who was reportedly mistaken as a bank robbery suspect. Similar to Belk’s run in with authorities, Academy Award-winner Louis Gossett Jr. was also once harassed by police early in his career.
During an interview on HuffPost Live on Thursday, the legendary actor opened up on his troublesome experience dealing with racism in Hollywood.
“I was brought out to California by the Williams Morris Agency, Lew Wasserman and Ed Bondy. Lew Wasserman had Universal [Studios] and the ‘Movies of the Week’ and Ed Bondy from the William Morris Agency, they put me on a plane…and I went out there and they sliced the food on your table,” he recalled to host Ricky Camilleri.
“They thought I was an African diplomat. The limousine came out on the tarmac, I got in the limousine, it took me to the Beverly Hills Hotel…I was in seventh heaven. And then I had to go get a rental car at the Budget rental car at Crescent Heights and Sunset. The Beverly Hills Hotel is maybe 20 minutes away. Once I got in that car, it took me four and half hours to get from Crescent Heights to the Beverly Hills Hotel. I met every cop in that neighborhood…they weren’t angry, they were flabbergasted.”
Check out more of Louis Gossett Jr.’s interview segment in the clip above.