There was some mild consternation on the Internet on Wednesday when the news leaked that, a few months ago, the director Ryan Coogler—famous for his smash-hit Marvel movie "Black Panther"—was mistaken for a literal bank robber:
"Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler was briefly detained by police in Atlanta in January after he was mistaken for a bank robber at a Bank of America, according to a police report filed Wednesday.
The director confirmed the incident to Variety. "This situation should never have happened," he said. "However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction and we have moved on."
What many people seem to be suggesting is that the incident was racially tinged in some way—that Coogler was singled out during this withdrawal because he is black.
But wait: The details matter here.
Coogler was detained and handcuffed after he went to Bank of America to make a transaction on Jan. 7, according to the Atlanta police report. The 35-year-old director — who was wearing a hat, sunglasses and a COVID face mask — went to the counter and handed the bank teller a withdrawal slip with a note written on the back that reportedly read, "I would like to withdraw $12,000 cash from my checking account. Please do the money count somewhere else. I'd like to be discreet."
Okay waaaaaait wait wait wait:
All right, let's get a few things straight here:
- First of all, Ryan Coogler is certainly well within his rights to withdraw $12,000 cash from his checking account—or $120,000, or $1.2 million, or however much he wants, at any time. It's his money.
- If you're going to make that kind of whopper of a withdrawal, however, there's got to be a better way to do it than handing the teller a brusque, clipped handwritten note asking her to "be discreet" and to "count [the money] somewhere else." Do you know where a bank teller's mind inevitably, invariably goes to when she sees those words on a handwritten note? It goes to "I'M GETTING ROBBED. THIS IS A ROBBERY."
- A high-profile celebrity who wants to make a "discreet" withdrawal of $12,000 can be far more, you know, discreet if he, say, calls ahead and speaks with the manager before going in. Doubtlessly the bank would have been happy to have him wait in a nice office, probably with an espresso or cafe au lait, while they made the count elsewhere and then brought the money back to him. Heck, they might've been able to have the money waiting for him when he got there.
Coogler didn't do anything wrong—the worst he's guilty of is being sort of weird and clumsy—but dang, man, there are way more graceful ways of getting your money from the bank than handing an unsettling note to the banker.
Next time you go to the bank, Ryan, actually be discreet about it!
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