Jeff Ruby Denies OJ Simpson Service

[Ltlabner]

Story here

Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby was at his restaurant in Louisville for Kentucky Derby weekend, when an employee approached him, apparently excited that O.J. Simpson was sitting down to dinner.
Ruby said he took another puff of his cigar and another sip of his drink and decided, "I don't want him here."

Ruby said he found Simpson in the Churchhill room of his "Jeff Ruby's Louisville" steakhouse and told Simpson, "I'm not serving you."

Ruby said he did it for the Goldman and Brown families, referring, of course, to the families of the people O.J. was accused of killing.

Simpson was found not guilty in the criminal trial, but liable in a civil trial.

After telling Simpson to leave, he said the former NFL football star was "classy" about it, rounded up his party and left.

Then, Ruby said, he went into the Churchill Room to be sure they were gone and people at other tables started standing. "They all got up and gave me a standing ovation, started applauding."

Ruby said it happened throughout the restaurant.

He added that the next day in the restaurant, "Nobody in Louisville was talking about who won the Derby, who lost, what happened to the favorite, or the Queen. They were just talking about 'O.J. got thrown out of the place.'"

Ruby's Louisville restaurant is the only one he owns outside of our Tri-state area. It's been open about a year.

[WMR]

Nice.

[BoydsOfSummer]

Sharpton and Jesse catch wind of this yet?

[remdog]

Ruby must have one of those signs posted: No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service. After all, everyone knows that OJ has no money.

Rem

[Hap]

[Yachtzee]

Maybe he confused Jeff Ruby with Jack Ruby and thought he might be the "real killer."

[George Foster]

O.J's is use to it. It happens all the time.

[KoryMac5]

Not even Sharpton or Jackson would come to OJ's defense on this one.

[Redsland]

From the Enquirer:

The walls of Ruby's restaurants are decorated with celebrity photos. A photo of Simpson and Ruby used to be on display, but Ruby said he took it down after the killings.

That's odd, because there are only a few celebrity photos hanging in The Waterfront, and OJ's is one of them. It seemed so strange to me to see it hanging there that I thought Ruby was making some sort of a statement.

I guess it's just an oversight.

[dabvu2498]

I'm sure none of Ruby's restaurants have ever served anyone actually convicted of a crime.

[CySeymour]

While I certainly do not like OJ, and I don't feel sorry that he got booted out, Ruby is setting himself up for a heck of a backlash. You can walk a wabbly line if you choose not to serve OJ but serve another person who had been under a cloud of suspicion. I do think the lawyer who said it is racial is just using it as an easy defense. I am sure Ruby can trot out names of several minorities who have patronized his establishements.

[HotCorner]

While I certainly do not like OJ, and I don't feel sorry that he got booted out, Ruby is setting himself up for a heck of a backlash. You can walk a wabbly line if you choose not to serve OJ but serve another person who had been under a cloud of suspicion. I do think the lawyer who said it is racial is just using it as an easy defense. I am sure Ruby can trot out names of several minorities who have patronized his establishements.

I heard this morning that the party that sat in the table OJ vacated was Michael Jordan and his entourage. Hard to claim race if this is the case.

[Chip R]

I think a lot of restaurants have a policy that they have the right to refuse service to anyone.

[Ltlabner]

I think a lot of restaurants have a policy that they have the right to refuse service to anyone.

As long as he isn't denying service to minorites, women, disabled people and veterans simply because they are minorties, women, disabled people and veterans, I have no problem with denying service to whomever he sees fit.

His resturant, his rules.

[15fan]