Social media was full of jokes on Monday (Nov. 30) after a video surfaced of Kevin Kelley, the owner of True Kitchen + Kocktails, going off on his customers for twerking and standing on the restaurant’s furniture while they were dining in.
On Sunday (Nov. 29), Twitter user @DJGreenVillain shared the video of Kelley’s rant, which has been viewed over two million times. In the clip, the owner chastised the patrons after a woman was seen standing on the furniture twerking while the DJ was playing “Throw Dat Ass In A Circle.”
“I invested a lot of money into buying this building, into developing this concept, so that Black people can have somewhere nice to go to, OK?” he said. “Somewhere where our people can feel good about themselves as a culture. Real talk. And so all this twerking and shit, take it to Prime, take it to Pink. Don’t bring it here because we’re a restaurant.”
He added, “Seventy-five percent of my customers are ladies. And I want men to show respect for themselves for how they carry themselves here. So, how can I tell the men to respect themselves when you guys are twerking on glass here? If you guys wanna do it, get the fuck out my restaurant because I did it for our people and I did it for our culture. So, don’t do it again. I don’t want to hear it again. If you don’t like it, get out because I don’t need your money. I need to provide something for my people. So, don’t do it again.”
There have been mixed reactions to the viral video on social media. Some people believe the owner was being too harsh to the customers and should have only addressed the ones who were dancing. Others believe the customers were wrong for dancing on his furniture.
NFL player Dez Bryant took to Twitter to express his thoughts on the incident. “Keep the standards high for the Black community,” he tweeted. “We have to work 10x harder to get the respect from our own people, so I don’t blame you for your actions ..what’s sad..he had to tell them multiple times before he acted out in rage.. I don’t blame you.. respect his shit @TrueKK_.”
Twitter user @BAAAM92ISBACK thought Kelley’s speech should have went more like this: “I appreciate you being here today and I am glad that you’re having a great time at True Kitchen. However, can you please not dance on the furniture? We have others eating and it can be disturbing to their experience. Please continue to enjoy the music and food.”
Check out some hilarious Twitter reactions below.