Rock star rages against popular Seattle dive bar for denying him entry

The 5 Point Cafe is one of Seattle’s most beloved dive bars. Serving stiff drinks in Belltown since 1929, the 24-hour greasy spoon was in the news earlier this year when the owner banned customers from wearing Google Glass. And on Friday, Rage Against the Machine’s guitarist, Tom Morello, came in to get a table with a group of friends after playing a $15 minimum wage benefit concert. But apparently there was already a line out the door.

“According to my door person, him and his crew wanted to get into a cafe that was at capacity on Friday night and he wasn’t allowed in and he kind of threw some attitude about it,” says cafe owner David Meinert. “It was his Tweet then that accused us of being the worst place in Seattle and the door guy being a [expletive] and also [me] being anti-worker. And that really crossed the line to me.”

Morello’s Tweet reads: “Five Point restaurant in Seattle is the WORST. Super rude & anti-worker. [Expletive] doorman in the Northwest. [Expletive]. Spread the word.”

The part that really needles Davis is that he has been called “anti-worker.”

“I agree with Tom on lots of issues about how we should be treating workers. I helped write the Seattle Sick Days Ordinance and also worked on the minimum wage thing. And while I didn’t agree with the final minimum wage ordinance I, in general, support raising the minimum wage, even to $15. So I think that we agree on a lot of stuff, so I took it very personally that he made claims that we are anti-worker. And, in fact, at the Five Point we treat the employees very well.”

David expressed all of these thoughts and feelings when he responded to the Tweet on the 5 Point’s Facebook page.

“We have a general kind of attitude that if you are mean or act like a [expletive] to the staff, that’s how you get treated. We’re not a ‘Customer’s always right’ kind of place. I also took issue with him attacking a small business without really knowing anything about us and using his kind of corporate rock star status to attack a locally owned small business. I thought that was pretty lame. I just said [in the post] that we don’t treat rock stars any differently than anyone else, so trying to come in there and have an attitude isn’t really going to fly at the 5 Point.

Yesterday afternoon Tom Morello issued what he considers to be an apologetic Tweet.

“So his apology really was that he is willing to forgive the doorman for his power trip if I fully embrace $15 minimum wage. But it’s really not an apology to the door guy and he should really just say sorry for acting like a rock star to the door guy.”

Tom’s Tweet and David’s response have now gone viral, and the vast majority of online commenters have painted the Rage Against the Machine guitarist as a villain.

“I do have to say, I would rather be talking about worker’s rights and embracing the work Tom does for poor people, than I would be having people post mean things about him. I really do respect the guy and the work he does. People have been posting that he should die or he should go kill himself and that’s really way beyond the pale. I think what he posted was wrong, but he doesn’t deserve millions of people wishing him ill.”

A dive bar to its core, the 5 Point really doesn’t care if you’re a celebrity or not, there is no special treatment. And if it’s any consolation to Tom Morello…

“Lots of celebrities have been thrown out of the five Point. I don’t want to say who, but many have.”