“Right in the foyer as you enter the bar it says no hats. “I don’t know what to believe at this point,” Beck said. After delving into it further, he said he was told that the employee was simply enforcing a policy on customers not wearing hats in the bar, and that he had enforced the policy on another person wearing a hat that day. He initially said, based on second-hand information, that there had been some kind of conflict between Marlow and other customers, or a complaint about him. If somebody takes an exception to it, please leave.” “The management and owner strongly believes in nondiscrimination,” Beck said, adding: “MAGA hat is as welcome as anybody else in the bar. Marlow also went to the website for Fox News and submitted his story as a news tip but has not heard back.īahi Hut owner Jim Beck said the business does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. Gruters’ Facebook post had been shared 366 times as of Monday afternoon and generated 350 comments. We live in the greatest Country that has ever existed and this behavior should be considered unacceptable.”
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“As a community, we should reject these type of actions, as it will lead to more division and hostility on both sides. “Local Sarasota resident, Mark Marlow, was denied service from the Bahi Hut on Friday night and was asked to leave as a result of his MAGA hat,” Gruters wrote. Marlow had never met Gruters or spoken to him before.Īfter talking with Marlow, Gruters took to Facebook Monday morning to blast the Bahi Hut. He found a number for Gruters, who also serves as the chair of the Sarasota GOP and of the Republican Party of Florida. Marlow’s name is not on the police report, which says the nature of the call is about a “suspicious person.”Īfter thinking about his Bahi Hut experience over the weekend, Marlow went on Google and searched for “Sarasota Republican Party.” He wanted to complain. The incident report describes the suspect as a white male who is 50 years old and 6 feet tall, weighing roughly 220 pounds and having a beard that is gray and black.
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The caller did not want to make a full report, but the incident report says the call was about someone being asked “to leave” and that the person asked to leave “is in the back of bar at table.” Marlow said he was sitting at a table in the back of the bar. “I have no issues with them.”Īn incident report provided by the Sarasota Police Department indicates that officers responded to a call at the Bahi Hut at 9:53 p.m.
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“Sarasota Police Department was very professional they were very nice,” Marlow said. The police told Marlow that the business has the right to refuse him service. He kind of turned around and walked away.”Īfter another few minutes, the same bar employee came back and allegedly told Marlow: “'I can see you’re not going to go peacefully if you don’t leave I’m going to call the cops.' I told him to go ahead and do that.”Īfter roughly another 20 minutes of sitting at the table without being served, Marlow said he finally decided to leave, and just as he was walking out the door officers from the Sarasota Police Department arrived. Marlow’s reaction: “I just shook my head.
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“They said it was just because of the hat.” “I was not drunk, I was not loud, I was not using profane language, I was not creating a scene - nothing,” Marlow said.