Charlie Trotter Reportedly Wigs Out, Locks Students Out Of Restaurant

Odd news from the retired-chefs arena: Art students from Chicago's After School Matters program are claiming that Charlie Trotter lost his temper with the students yesterday, hurling gay slurs and expletives before kicking them out of his restaurant.

The students, who were preparing an exhibit inside the old restaurant space, claim that Trotter asked them to clean his toilets, and asked one student if she was going to get a "Charlie Trotter's" tramp-stamp tattoo. He then allegedly kicked them out of his old restaurant space and locked them out of the space, essentially "stealing" their art and keeping their electronic equipment (including iPads).

The chef sits on the board of After School Matters, and the exhibit has reportedly been in the works for more than a month. "It was supposed to be a really positive event. Young people working hard all summer making their photographs, framing them, putting them up, marketing to people to come out. We sell their work, too," a superviser told the Chicago Sun-Times.

WGN-TV went to the restaurant to follow up, and found the chef in a sporting jacket and black baseball cap. "Should I do an Alec Baldwin or what?" Trotter asked the reporter, before asking if she had a job and returning to the building. Watch the video below.