Chicago Pub Under Fire After Accusations Of Racist Remarks, Threats Online

Chicago's Jake's Pub is under fire after racist comments were made on Facebook by people connected to the bar. As of this writing, the incident has sparked 508 1-star Facebook reviews, 55 1-star Yelp reviews, a Reddit thread with hundreds of comments and even a planned sit-in protest at the bar.

The incident originated in connection with a Facebook post written on Saturday by a woman who asked to remain anonymous. Her post, which had nothing to do with Jake's Pub, was publicly published to her Facebook page, expressing that people who are not black should not use the "n-word." The original post, now made private, in part reads:

"Don't say the N word if you are not black. Don't say it. Don't read it out loud. Don't sing it. Don't rap it. Don't use it when you quote Dave Chappelle. Nope. Nah. Stop.

"...Also, why DO you want to say it so badly? Examine your weird feelings about it. Do some work on you."

This isn't the first time the woman, who said she considers herself an activist, has publicly posted remarks about race. In a phone interview, the woman noted that she used to frequent Jake's Pub and had friends who worked there, which explains her Facebook friend connection to "Hanzo Johnson," the Facebook user name for Ashley Elmore, a bar manager at Jake's Pub.

Under her Hanzo profile — confirmed by Jake's Pub owner Scott Johnson, who is Elmore's uncle — Elmore responded to the woman's post on Sunday with racially-tinged posts, while also claiming to be the owner of Jake's. According to screenshots of the post, Elmore wrote, "Jesus you literally hate white people almost as much as you hate yourself." Another comment read, "Who gives a f* what color you are in this time in history... your crutch is gone, move forward for god sake". Elmore's reply created an online argument with other users contributing more than 100 back-and-forth heated responses accusing Elmore of being racist. She repeated her sentiments in a later post, which incited more than 50 comments.

In the midst of the exchange, Elmore tagged a person she identified as her stepfather Bruce Funk in the comments. Funk has no part in the bar's ownership. His comments were deleted but live on as screenshots, and unapologetically use the "n-word," which raised even more uproar.

As people began to flock to Yelp and Facebook to write one-star reviews of the bar, Jake's Pub made a public Facebook post that said the bar had been "singled out by one foul person," referring to the original woman's post. The woman who originally made the Facebook post responded, saying that an employee had posted "racist garbage" on her wall.

Johnson responded to Facebook commenters on the Jake's Pub page. When the woman who created the original post offered to show him screenshots of her exchange with Elmore and Funk, Johnson said that he had information on her that he could post, and made veiled threats, such as asking the woman if she wanted him to tell her where her mother lived. The conversation goes on with Johnson accusing the woman of having "been a naughty girl."

In a call with the Tribune, Johnson denied that his comments were threatening. He also denied that the original comments made by Elmore were racist. Johnson denied that Funk, who used the "n-word," was associated with the bar, despite being a family member, and said that the words he used were "questionable."

Johnson admitted to being angry and accused people of trying to bring down his business in a "lynch mob" scenario. Johnson said he invited the commenters to come to the bar for a beer on the house and to discuss the topic.

"All I'm saying is that I did not and have not and never had any racial issues with anyone," Johnson said. "What I did yesterday was defend my tag, my brand. ... I got agitated because there were a lot of people accusing me of things that are inflammatory toward who I am and what we stand for."

Johnson said he had a discussion with Elmore about the incident and said they concluded that something on a personal page can turn "into something that is completely unintended," and encouraged each other to make good decisions on how they're going to conduct themselves online.

"Hanzo Johnson" or Elmore was not able to be reached for comment.

Five men, all of whom were black, attended Monday's Facebook event "Black People Meet at Jake's Pub Tonight". Kenneth Pettigrew, who organized the event and whose friends attended, said he wanted to go to the bar both out of curiosity and out of desire to create space for discussion.

"We're here and we are going to be seen," Pettigrew said.

Pettigrew said there were four Chicago police officers in front of the bar when they arrived and that the group was carded twice. He mentioned that the employees of the bar seemed eerily nice, but was happy that they had a positive experience there.

As for her experience during this Internet imbroglio, the woman said, "a person of color should never feel unsafe frequenting an establishment. If I have money and I'm respectful to the staff, I should never feel unsafe about going into a bar or restaurant."

gwong@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GraceWong630