CALGARY — Controversy is never far from Pauls Pizza, whose owner, Farouk Elsaghir, has been hit with at least two separate human rights complaints filed against his business with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC).In documents obtained by the Western Standard, one of the complaints, submitted on February 14, stems from a heated Facebook exchange in which Elsaghir labelled a critic a “gay pedophile leprechaun.” A second complaint, submitted April 27, alleges Elsaghir tried to charge a lesbian couple more money for food at his establishment.According to the February complaint filed by Brandon McNeney, McNeney left a critical comment online about Pauls Pizza. He alleges Elsaghir took screenshots of the comment and posted them on his business page, along with photos from McNeney’s Facebook profile, “referring to me as a gay pedophile leprechaun and cautioning kids” and saying he “triggered a tolerant leftist gayboy.” .“Numerous followers of his page commented on the post he made, continuing to disparage me because of my sexual orientation and continuing to suggest I’d be a danger to children,” McNeney’s complaint reads.“He also suggested that I should disappear to the Bermuda Triangle — which I consider a threat.”McNeney filed both an AHRC complaint — accepted on the ground of sexual orientation under publications, notices, signs and statements — and an RCMP hate-motivated incident report.Elsaghir said McNeney had previously trash-talked Pauls Pizza online..“It was like he was trying to incite someone to burn our building down, and he looked ridiculous in his pictures, so I kinda just roasted him,” Elsaghir said, citing other figures on social media such as BertaProudDad and Chris Scott of the Whistle Stop Cafe who go through similar situations..“These are all the consequences I get for saying things. I do open myself up to things like this."In the second complaint, filed by Ellie Loutitt, she alleges she and her girlfriend visited Pauls Pizza on April 18 and that Elsaghir told them they would be charged more “because we are lesbians and ‘not into men.’”The couple then left the establishment and afterwards “looked online and saw this wasn’t the first time he’s been or acted discriminatory toward people based on their sexual orientation.”.In the complaint, Loutitt, who identifies as an indigenous lesbian, cited a Facebook post on Paul’s Pizzas page that reads: “Wings are half price every Thursday. But full price for members of the MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+, so that they can feel special in our safe space.”“I was talking about being indigenous and my girlfriend looks a lot more indigenous than I do. As someone who fits under the two minorities (indigenous and a lesbian) that Pauls Pizza Airdrie was openly attacking online, I feel that it's just not a safe space for everyone,” Loutitt said.“Even if it was just a joke he made online, I know that even making a joke is against the Human Rights Commission of Alberta. This shouldn't be taken lightly, especially considering how they still make offensive jokes and comments all the time on their social media.”Loutitt’s complaint was accepted by the AHRC on the protected grounds of sexual orientation, ancestry or place of origin, and race or colour, under the area of goods, services, accommodation or facilities..When asked about the incident, Elsaghir flatly denied the April 18 allegation.“That’s bulls**t. That’s never happened,” he told the Western Standard.“A, I don’t serve anybody myself, and B, we just let anybody in. We’re not going to tell them to get out because of the colour of their skin or whoever they are.”Other controversies have surrounded Pauls Pizza in recent months over remarks Elsaghir has made on social media such as one in April about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), where he joked that “if they are missing and murdered, then unfortunately, they aren’t getting any special pricing.”That now-deleted post triggered substantial outrage online and Elsaghir believes these new complaints are just part of an ongoing retaliatory backlash.“They can’t take a joke. This is how they retaliate. They wanna just destroy anybody’s lives who doesn’t agree with them,” Elsaghir said.“They probably think, ‘Oh, nothing's gonna happen, but at least let's give him a headache, so it's something to deal with to kinda get back at him.’”.Pauls Pizza owner defends social media comments as Airdrie mayor confronts backlash .He also said Loutitt and her girlfriend had no evidence and asked whether they had a copy of their receipt from the day of the incident or anything else to show they were at Pauls Pizza on the date cited in the complaint.“There's a lot of people I probably could go after for defamation, but at the end of the day, I don't know if it's worth it,” he said.“Most of these people, you know, they're just dead-end losers and there's no point. All I'm gonna do is give myself a headache.”Elsaghir added that he expects more complaints from May and June to come in due to his online commentary and is preparing a formal reply to the AHRC.
