Tom Morello insists he did not request special treatment at a Seattle restaurant and blames the ongoing spat on a doorman's "underlying motives."
Morello was in Seattle last week for a benefit concert to help bring in a $15 minimum wage to the city. After Friday night’s show, he was part of a group of people who tried to get a table at the The 5 Point Cafe, only to be turned away.
After the restaurant’s manager accused Morello of behaving like a diva, Morello posted a more detailed version of his account in which he suggests the doorman may have had a problem with his Kenyan brother.
Morello says in a statement: “To be clear, at no point did myself or anyone in our party ‘demand special treatment,’ a ‘private room’ or any other ridiculousness.
“I was, however, pissed at the rudeness of the doorman to my friends and my younger brother — of whom I’m quite protective. I question what underlying motives the doorman may have had. Bad day? Anti-Kenyan? Preferred the Spin Doctors?”
The statement provoked a further response from The 5 Point Cafe’s owner David Meinart, who called Morello “pathetic.”
Meinart says on Facebook: “Ok, enough, Tom. That’s fucked up. Stop trying to portray the doorperson as a racist. That really sucks and is crazy abusive.
“Maybe you don’t realise you were acting the punk, but you were.”
On the Friday gig, Morello says: “The show itself at the former Off Ramp went great. I was reunited with former Audioslave band mate Chris Cornell for the first time in years, and together with the raucous crowd, it was really a special evening.”
