Senate candidate and Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson booted from bar

Last night Joey Gibson was kicked out of the Brickhouse Bar in Vancouver. Gibson, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate and leader of Patriot Prayer, took immediately to Facebook  accusing the bartender of calling him a white supremacist and mocking him for wearing a “Jesus hat.”

Gibson said shortly after, security escorted him out of the building.

“I try to have an honest conversation with security, they have no idea who I am, they have no idea what I do, they just listen to this bartender,” Gibson said on Facebook.

He called for his thousands of followers to let Brickhouse know how they feel.

“It is their right, I’ll make that very clear, there should be no legal repercussion at all,” he said. “But there should be more repercussion in terms of business in terms of ratings.”

Since the incident, more than 40 reviews have been posted on Yelp, the bulk of which are negative. Yelp has posted a warning to reviewers that the page is being monitored due to media coverage of the incident.

yelp warning

The few positive reviews thank Brickhouse for not allowing “Nazis” and mention the welcoming “vibes of the bar.”

One of the most recent reviews comes from Ryan R. who said, “Thank you for standing up against bigotry and Joey Gibson and his awful organization. Don’t worry about all these trolls coming to post negative reviews because of it, Yelp will have them removed soon. Hopefully they will also remove the ‘disguised’ ones — the people who are posting negative reviews that seem to be about the restaurant but are actually because of Gibson.

You’re one of the best bars in Vancouver. You are supported.”

Brickhouse owner Angela Deans shared a different version of the Thursday night encounter with the Oregonian. I wasn’t able to reach Deans before press deadline.

Deans said Gibson was yelling at the bartender and he had aggressive body language.

Gibson reportedly refused to calm down, so the bartender called on another co-worker to come over. Floor Manager Ryan Reed told the Oregonian Gibson began accusing them of being racist, and that’s when he was asked to leave.

Dean said she supports the bartender’s decision.

“I really trust her judgment. If she felt like he needed to leave, he needed to leave,” she said.

Gibson also told his followers there might be a rally of some kind in the future in response.

“I think we’re going to have to come down here pretty soon and do a little flag wave real soon,” he said.

As of Friday afternoon, no flags were in sight.

Katy Sword

Katy Sword

I cover the city of Vancouver and federal politics. Reach me at katy.sword@columbian.com.

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