Distress caused by the economic environment is thought to lead to higher levels of discriminatory behavior. If true, an economic shock would affect those individuals that typically face discriminatory behavior indirectly through an increase in discrimination and directly by economic distress itself. Using an incentivized online survey with a close-to-representative sample of 1188 participants in the US, we test the causal relationship between discriminatory behaviour and the negative economic shock resulting from the restrictions due to COVID-19. The nature of this shock results in a nearly exogenous assignment of economic distress, reducing possible selection effects. We find no differences in the revealed discriminatory preferences between those individuals who were and were not affected by the shock. This holds independently on whether the shock leads to a salary reduction or a job loss. Counter to claims made elsewhere, this finding supports the notion that preferences related to discriminatory behavior are likely invariant to economic conditions. Results are confirmed by a second online survey with a student sample in the UK.