Last Year, She Took On Bigots At Pride…Now, It’s Mama Tits Versus The Landlords! PLUS UPDATES!

Photo: Dee Vanderlin – Dark Dee Lights

Our favorite advocate for justice, truth, and the American Way just can’t keep her mouth shut.

Mama Tits, Seattle’s favorite drag hostess who hasn’t been on RuPaul’s Drag Race, made national headlines last June during Seattle’s Pride Parade when the  diva stood up to anti-gay bigots who came to disrupt the 2014  celebrations at Westlake Plaza. Mama “T” was on hand as the co-announcer for the parade and she wasn’t about to let a handful of dimwitted zealots ruin Seattle’s Big Gay Day. She confronted them and quickly sent the idiots packing….all in front of video cameras which quickly made her an international hero in the LGBTQ community with 1.8 million views on YouTube.

Photo credit: SGS

Now, Mama is apparently fighting back again…this time, against her landlord AND former employer, Metropolitan Management Company. From Facebook:

Here’s the story, back in March 2014 while I was the manager of my building I was forced to overhear a conversation with other workers for our company calling me a faggot and saying things like “how can anyone take him seriously with those nails on, he must be sick” “I don’t want to get AIDS from him” etc. I reported it to my superiors and I have letters of apology from the employees for what they said but nothing else happened.

Then in October of 2014 they fired me stating I was getting too famous to do my job and I wasn’t returning phone calls because they had a person call me to test my return calls and when I asked to get that number so I could cross reference it with my cell records to prove I in fact did not receive said call, they refused to provide the number.
Now this month they are refusing my rent payment but still keeping my rent check. They are jacking up my rent without the legal required 60 day notice and when I went in to the main office to talk this out they refused to see me and threw me out!

Now it’s time to play hardball!!!

Later in the day, Mama updated her fans:

Update on EvictGate against Metropolitan Management:
The universe provides when you trust in her! In less than 24 hours we have put a deposit on a “new to us” fabulous 1926 old world Capitol Hill Seattle apartment! The building is gorgeous, well maintained and the apartment is HUGE! And to top it off, I get a Drag Room!!!

But don’t get it twisted!

This fight against Metropolitan Management is NOT any where near to being over! I am working with the Office of Civil Rights, the Tenants Union and a few very fabulous big time lawyers advising me. I will continue this fight through whatever legal channels possible. The little people will NOT be walked on, we will not be silenced and we will not be intimidated!

Metropolitan Management is one of the largest landlords in the city with dozens of properties. It’s also changed names over the the years and some signage on older properties refer to it by previous names. On Yelp, the company has a dismal one star rating.

We reached out to Metropolitan Management for comment, however, our calls were not returned by the time of this posting.  We’ll post an update if we hear back from them.

UPDATE 3/11  4:00pm:

From Mama Tits:

Most recent update on EvictGate against Metropolitan Management:
We WON phase 1!!!
*The city attorney has advised them to cease and desist all notices to pay or vacate and remind them.
*The attorney also informed them their notice of rent increase was illegal even if they had actually posted it, which they never did, the reason it was illegal was the notice required a 60 day notice and even if they posted it on December 31st like they claim, 12/31/14-2/28/15 is only 59 days!
*the attorney also advised them it is illegal to hold my rent check and not credit me as paying rent. They are to process my rent check asap.
*they were also advised that my original rental agreement is still valid through the end of the month!
This feels so good! The rest of the situation is being felt with through the proper city organizations and channels. This is not the end of it either, we may even be mobilizing a protest!
If you are feeling like you’re being wronged by you property manager make sure you know and exercise your rights!

**Here are a few perfect places to start if you need help:
– http://www.tenantsunion.org/
– http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Publications/CAM/cam604.pdf

UPDATE 3/12 NOON
From Mama’s Facebook:

#‎EvictGate‬ day 4:
You know you’ve made your voice heard when the owner of the company you are taking on, in my case it was Metropolitan Management, calls you and asks for you to tell the situation while apologizing for everything that has been happening and offers to do whatever it takes to help you out of the situation. Yeah, that’s how my morning has gone.

This goes to show, when you know your rights and you exercise them in a professional manner while remaining classy there is a good chance things will work out! Stay strong, keep it classy and ‪#‎StandTogether‬