Jason Aldean Bar Owners ‘Horrified’ by Racial Profiling Claim
More than 17,000 people shared Laura Murphy's Facebook post in which she describes how her husband was denied entrance to Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop Bar because of his race.
Restaurant owners have since responded, saying they're "horrified" by the report.
Fox 17 in Nashville shares a statement from TC Restaurant Group, which owns Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop Bar and several other downtown Nashville hotspots. They've promised an investigation and action, "should we find that any of our employees or third-party security contractors violated our policies."
Murphy says they went to the restaurant on Broadway late on Nov. 1 and waited in line. "My husband, who is black, was first in line and was stopped by a bouncer and told he couldn’t come in because he was wearing a hoodie," she writes on Facebook. "He asked if he could just take it off, and was told no that he had to leave."
Murphy (who is white) says three other black men she met shortly after were turned away for a dress code violation, but together they watched as several white customers walked out wearing hoodies.
"We asked them if they were asked to leave and they all said no, they had been there for hours. We also watched two white men be allowed to enter by removing their hoodies," she furthers.
The situation escalated from there, Murphy says, and there was a conversation with a bouncer which led to a confrontation with a manager who reportedly ran after her group, screaming at them. Several updates have followed since her original post, including news that the restaurant's third party security service owner called and apologized and acknowledged the incident:
He himself is a black man married to a white woman, and completely understood the situation. He was very cordial, and I’m confident that he will do everything in his power to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
No dress code is posted on Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop Bar's website. TC Restaurant Group also owns FGL House and Luke's 32 Bridge, restaurants attached to country music stars Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan.
Jason Aldean himself was not at the establishment on Friday night.
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