A body positivity advocate has spoken out about discrimination after she was turned away from a party bus for being plus-size.
Sharing her story on social media, 27-year-old Fallon Melillo from San Antonio, Texas, revealed that the incident took place last month during a trip to Miami with some close friends.
Recounting the incident on TikTok, Melillo revealed: "Last weekend, from July 29 until August 1, I went to Miami Beach. I stayed there with a few friends for the entire weekend.
"On July 31, we decided to go to a pool party. This pool party was located at DAER Dayclub in the Hard Rock Hotel.
“Earlier that week, one of the girls in our group contacted a promoter to get the party bus tickets through this place called Spring Break Miami Party Service. And we got the tickets. They were $40 and then $10 when you get to the door."
However, the night before the pool party, Fallon decided to research the party bus service on Eventbrite, and stumbled upon an upsetting “rule”.
Check out her video below:“If you decide to read, you can obviously tell that it says that there’s no bigger women or plus size women allowed,” Fallon says.
Sharing a screenshot of the Eventbrite page, the bus service description reads: “Sorry No Big Girls for this party!
“The doorman is very strict on appearance. If you have had problems getting into exclusive clubs before then this is not for you! Please don’t waste your time or ours thinking that we [can get] you inside if you know you do not meet the qualifications.”
Fallon continued: “This is what Eventbrite looks like, and I just want to be clear, the actual day club, DAER Dayclub, has nothing to do with this party bus service. It’s like a third-party company.”
She then confirmed that she had reached out to DAER Dayclub, who reassured her that they do not have any discriminating policies against plus-size guests.
“The promoter didn’t mention anything to the girl that asked about the tickets about plus size women,” Fallon said. “He didn’t say bigger women are not allowed, which technically, I guess, isn’t illegal.”
She continued: “There’s no law, but it’s downright awful and rude and humiliating. And we ended up going there and they turned us away at the door because I am plus size, as you can see. I’m thinking than, I guess, the average girl - and they decided to tell us that we can’t get on the party bus.
“They did refund our money, but it was very embarrassing going there and then telling us that we can’t go.”
Fallon then urged anybody who watches her video not to use the party bus service.
"I originally created this platform for body neutrality, body acceptance, boy positivity. And I think it would be wrong that I literally experienced this in my own life and the embarrassment of being turned away from being allowed on a bus to go to a day club to not speak about it."
After sharing her video, it has amassed nearly 500,000 views on TikTok, with Fallon receiving an outpouring of support from social media users:
Let's hope Fallon's story starts a discussion that can lead to this sort of thing never happening to another person again.
