D.C. Landlord Clarifies He Rejected Gen Z Congressman Because He’s Black

WASHINGTON—In response to the Gen Z congressman-elect’s tweet that his apartment application was turned down due to bad credit, D.C. landlord Ray Forster reportedly clarified Friday that he actually rejected Maxwell Frost because he’s Black. “Bad credit had nothing to do with it—you can work something out with someone who has bad credit, but you just can’t work something out with someone who’s Black,” said Forster, adding that his management company had run a routine background check that should have turned up evidence of the 25-year-old Florida congressman’s Black skin and immediately disqualified him. “I mean, the guy very publicly just got a new job with a salary that would be sufficient to rent this apartment, so it’s clearly not a financial thing. Other landlords might have let him use a guarantor for the month before his first paycheck came in, but that’s a slippery slope, because if you let one Black guy rent an apartment from you, suddenly you open yourself up to letting any Black guy waltz in here and submit an application. And you know, it’s really hard to build credit in the first place, especially with the younger generation, so I try to help out where I can, but his race is where I draw the line.” At press time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Frost ask fellow congressman Hakeem Jeffries for an apartment recommendation, since the two of them probably knew each other.