See photo of Kid Rock’s packed Honky Tonk bar cited for violating coronavirus orders
Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk bar in Nashville has been cited for violating coronavirus public orders after a photo showed the restaurant packed with patrons who weren’t wearing masks.
On Sunday, the Metro Public Health Department issued citations to 14 Nashville businesses for violating emergency COVID-19 orders, The Nashville Post reported.
Dr. Michael Caldwell, director of the Metro Public Health Department, received a complaint on Friday and then visited Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk & Rock ’N’ Roll Steakhouse, the health department said in a news release.
Caldwell cited the business “for serving people that were seated at the bar and for not observing proper social distancing inside the establishment,” according to the news release.
Steve Smith, owner of Kid Rock’s Honky Tonk, told The Tennessean through his attorney Brian Lewis: “We find it very unfair that Mayor (John) Cooper can encourage thousands of people to march with him in violation of his own phases, but he wants to hold the Nashville business community hostage.”
Cooper encouraged people to attend an “I Will Breathe” rally on May 30 to “show up and listen to Black voices speaking out from across Davidson County.”
Protesters have been gathering across the country to call for racial equity and an end to police brutality since George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in Minneapolis police custody on May 25.
Metro Public Health Director Hugh Atkins said during a press conference on Monday that officials are investigating more than has over 500 complaints, according to Eater Nashville.
Citations require a court appearance and a judge will set the fine, according to Eater. Atkins said that if businesses continue to violate orders, they could be forced to close for “some period of time,” according to Eater Nashville.
This story was originally published June 16, 2020 at 8:14 AM with the headline "See photo of Kid Rock’s packed Honky Tonk bar cited for violating coronavirus orders."