Woman Suggests Husband Turned Away At Popular Bar Because He’s Black

A St. Louis woman visiting Nashville with some friends over the weekend said her husband was denied entry to a famous bar Friday night because of the color of his skin.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (CBS Local) — A St. Louis woman visiting Nashville with some friends over the weekend is suggesting her husband was denied entry to a famous bar Friday night because of the color of his skin. Laura Murphy, who is white, said that her husband, who is black, was wearing a hoodie to keep warm when they tried to get in to Jason Aldean’s Kitchen and Rooftop Bar.

In a Facebook post, Murphy claims security stopped them, claiming hoodies were not allowed.

“He asked if he could just take it off, and was told no that he had to leave,” she said.

As they departed, they noticed some white people leaving the bar who were wearing hoodies, CBS affiliate WTVF reported.

“We also watched two white men be allowed to enter by removing their hoodies,” Murphy said.

Murphy said they confronted the bouncer about the apparent double standard for white patrons, but said her husband was turned away again.

“We walked to another bar, and had zero problems the rest of the night because of the threatening hoodie and black skin of my husband,” she said.

Murphy’s post went viral over the weekend and had been shared more than 16,000 times as of Tuesday morning.

“I’ve been with my husband for almost 20 years. We’ve sat in restaurants and never been waited on, we’ve experienced passive racism in our daily lives,” Murphy wrote. “But NEVER in my life have I seen such an outwardly blatant display of racism in person.”

T.C., the restaurant group that owns Aldean’s, said it was “horrified by these reports.”

“Our leadership team is investigating this situation and will take action should we find that any of our employees or third-party security contractors violated our policies,” T.C. said in a statement.