Newly established Dallas restaurant TRUE Kitchen + Kocktails found itself at the center of controversy Thanksgiving weekend, when video that displayed owner Kevin Kelley reprimanding some unwelcome dancers caught fire on social media.
The video reportedly shows Kelley admonishing a room of diners after some women apparently started “twerking” to the restaurant DJ’s music.
Kelley, who’s a personal injury lawyer, said he built the restaurant that opened in August as an original concept from the ground up in downtown Dallas’ corridor. For him, the incident on the night of Sunday, Nov. 29 came down to one thing.
“You don’t want people twerking in your house,” he told Atlanta Black Star. “I’m seeing people point to the music that was played. But it doesn’t matter what music is played in your house. You don’t want a guest to come into your home — whether it’s your business home or personal home — and stand on your furniture, push against your windows and start twerking.”
The attorney said he caters to Black people, who make up more than 90 percent of his clientele. He wanted to offer them a nice dining option that also makes them feel comfortable.”
“Dallas has needed a nice restaurant for Black people,” Kelley said. “One that we can go to and listen to our music. One that we can go to and not feel like we’re the minority.”
He told customers in the video, “I invested a lot of money into developing this concept, so that Black people would have a nice place to go to,” and have “Somewhere we can feel good about ourselves as a culture.”
“So all this twerking……don’t bring it here, because we’re a restaurant,” he continued. “You want to do it, get the f*** out our restaurant.”
Everyone in the room seemed stunned, and the shock and disbelief over the owner’s outburst spread to the online platforms where the video was posted.
One Twitter user criticized the owner’s actions, pointing out that, “In this video, you can clearly hear the music, which was a booming dance party vibe. His disrespectful tone to the women, who are paying customers, isn’t right. He set the tone for his restaurant with a DJ, so this is on him.”
Others have reprimanded the women, who it was said, were dancing on furniture, and only stopped after being asked multiple times.
“So many ignorant / baffling comments coming from this section that people really act like they weren’t raised to understand there’s a time and place for everything especially in our culture .. regardless of the music selection it’s called self-control,” said one Twitter user.
On Monday, Nov. 30, Kelley released a statement through his personal Facebook page, clarifying some of the comments and rumors about the incident that led him to ask his dancing patrons to leave.
Kelley also posted videos which he used to support his affirmation that he politely asked and “begged” three tables of guests several times to stop standing on the furniture and twerking.
He pointed to another video as evidence, which displays one customer who “stood on her seat, placed her hands against the glass windows and began to twerk.” Kelley said he was more concerned that the woman would fall through a window, potentially making for a lawsuit for the restaurant.
He decided “enough is enough. After already addressing this behavior twice, these customers no longer deserved the courtesy of kindness I expressed in the earlier encounters as it was met with disrespect and intentionally ignored. This is why they were told to leave.”
Kelley mentioned that “97% of our guests yesterday were fantastic” and that this was an “indictment” on a small percentage of clientele who did not respect his restaurant.
He added, “We reserve the right to address guests who we believe fall below the standards of the concept created.”
The restaurant owner also said that, in the future, the restaurant would be adjusting its music playlist, but emphasized that no one had any right to come into his “business home” and stand on the furniture, regardless of the song.
“As for twerking being a part of our culture, we do not welcome the part of the culture that will come into a restaurant, stand on furniture and twerk while using “culture” as an excuse,” Kelley said. “Would you accept this for your home? Ask yourself if you would do this at any other restaurant you frequent?”
Kelley said he has noticed the split in opinions on social media, but he told Atlanta Black Star he isn’t bothered by the negative comments denouncing him as the “twerk tyrant.”
“It’s been about 50/50. I feel really good about the positive comments we’ve seen,” he said. And we’ve seen some negative ones, too. But our restaurant isn’t for everybody. Anybody who wants to defend guests twerking in our restaurant, regardless of what music is playing, isn’t somebody that we want in our restaurant anyway.”
Despite some of the harsh criticism, Kelley said support from Dallas has been phenomenal and, according to him, has made the restaurant one of the hottest in the city over the past three months.
“We’re appreciative of the support that we get from the public,” Kelley said. “We have an obligation to keep this concept of a good, clean and nice environment for them. And we can’t let the actions of one group of guests interrupt what we have planned for everyone else.”
He expressed his desire to continue with the restaurant’s cause, but suggested that it would not be possible without the support and respect of the people he’s trying to serve.
“I want people to be inspired by this restaurant to open their own restaurants. I want people to be inspired that I’m the only Black person to ever have owned a building in downtown Dallas. And I want them to say he’s done it, so I can do it too. But I can’t build and create something great for the culture, and people come here and they don’t respect what we’re trying to do.”
Reporter Matt Bruce contributed to this story.
