Dad ‘racially profiled’ buying son paint in Hobbycraft

By Nathan BevanBBC News Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures Hobbycraft claim Louis Gray, right, was refused paint because “he looked underage” A father from Cardiff says he was “racially profiled” while trying to buy spray paint at a branch of Hobbycraft. Louis Gray went to the store’s Newport branch to buy the item for his four-year-old son’s art project. But he alleged a staff member refused to sell it to him in case he intended to “undertake an incidence of graffiti”. Hobbycraft has apologised but said Mr Gray was refused because he looked underage. The company added it was investigating Mr Gray’s experience, which happened at its unit at Harlech retail park. In now-deleted posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Gray said: “In today’s episode of wearing your black skin in public I was racially profiled and refused service at Hobbycraft.” He said his son was left “confused” by what had happened and questioned if it had been based on his father’s skin colour, asking “would that happen to me because I’m like you, daddy?”. Mr Gray said that he was surrounded by three members of Hobbycraft staff, including “one wearing a bodycam to record the transaction”. And while he...