Woman Seeking Legal Action After Being Called ‘Bon Quisha’ In A Facebook Post Made By A North Carolina Honda Dealership

When Trinity Bethune entered a Lumberton Honda dealership on Wednesday, her only goal was to secure a vehicle. And she did, describing the visit and process as “good”. She signed the papers, got the keys, and was photographed by salesman Ethan Brooks with her 2016 Toyota Camry. Then on Thursday night, Trinity checked the dealer’s Facebook page and found a photo of her posted and captioned “Congratulations Bon Quisha on her 2016 Toyota Camry.”

“I feel humiliated,” Trinity told The Shade Room. “I feel that my character is being played with.”

By the time Trinity saw the post at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, it had been sitting for about an hour. Confused and heartbroken, she left a comment with a caption.

“I’m not sure if this is a ‘joke’ or something but my name is definitely Trinity Bethune,” she wrote. “I am so offended by this post, it is almost a racial slur. If I am not called by MY name, please do not address me. “

According to Trinity, the caption was changed, then deleted about an hour after she commented. That same night, Trinity’s brother, Tyrone Jacob, took to his Facebook to talk about the agent’s treatment of his sister. The post quickly went viral on the platform with Tyrone calling the caption “not a mistake.”

“This is not how I intended to congratulate my sister on her first car purchase,” he wrote. “This is completely intentional, disgusting, unfair and many other adjectives I could use to describe the situation.”

By Friday afternoon, the post had received more than 5,700 comments and more than 17,000 shares. Tyrone pointed out in his post that typing Bon Quisha “requires effort and intention” because Trinity’s name is spelled primarily with “the first row of the keyboard.”

When speaking to The Shade Room, Trinity revealed that the general manager of the Lumberton dealership had been in private contact with her. In a phone call on Friday morning, the manager apologized for the incident and shared that Ethan is said to be no longer working with the dealership. According to the manager, handling their social media posting involved the salesperson submitting a photo and name to the social media manager to be posted.

But Trinity said that wasn’t enough, given how she was “humiliated on social media platforms.” When asked if she wanted a public apology, Trinity insisted the superintendent sought his own solution instead of looking to her for it.

“If this were his daughter, sister, wife, how would he want it handled,” Trinity asked the manager. “And the fact that he fired someone doesn’t help me at all, I’m still injured.”

Shade Room has attempted to contact the agent for comment, but twice was told by the answering phone operator: “We don’t have time to listen to your complaints, phone. Ours is exploding.” The employees also shared that managers were in a meeting to address the post, before ending the call.

Trinity said she has yet to be contacted by the general manager or any of the company’s additional employees. Nor have any updates been posted to the dealer’s Facebook page. Regardless of what action they take, Trinity said she will legally pursue the matter and is looking to hire a lawyer to “smear the character”.

“Every time I make a payment on this car, I get reminded of the same topic, for a very long time,” says Trinity.

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