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Tiger fan talks about being kicked out of restaurant for being a Tiger fan
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DESTIN – A restaurant here is trying to make a bad situation better by sponsoring a party where proceeds benefit a scholarship after one customer and LSU fan's story about service at the eatery went viral Thursday.
"We were greeted by the manager, and the first thing he said was, 'there's no LSU fans allowed in here,'" Don Bass said in an interview with WBRZ reporter Brett Buffington for WBRZ News 2 at 10:00 Thursday.
Bass, from Mississippi, was in Destin, Florida, for a wedding Saturday and was hoping to eat with friends and family and watch LSU play Florida at Tiger Stadium on TV. Their plan was to spend the evening after the wedding at Harry T's.
Bass said he was identified as an LSU fan by the hat he was wearing.
"We just wanted some place to dine, and that was the choice we attempted to make," Bass said.
When Bass complained Monday, an email response from the restaurant indicted LSU fans were not welcome because of previous issues.
"LSU does not carry a good name here at Harry T's, in previous years (this year as well) we've had LSU 'fans' physically attack a few members of our staff," an employee named Nick wrote.
Bass posted the email on the site Tigerdroppings.com where it received countless comments and shares on social media accounts.
Thursday, a restaurant employee said the email was sent by someone who was not authorized to respond to the complaint and said the room Bass chose for his group's seating was unavailable. A person who was authorized to talk about the situation, said things escalated quickly and issues could have been addressed differently.
"[Nick] was an overzealous new manager, he has since been reprimanded and is no longer a manager," the restaurant posted on Facebook. "The owner's wife is from Louisiana and is an LSU fan," the posted continued.
In an effort to clear the air, Harry T's will host an LSU party Saturday.
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