Man claims bar discriminated against him because of his tattoos

A man is claiming he was discriminated against because of his tattoos. But workers at a Tennessee restaurant say the tattoos were offensive to families dining there. The incident happened at Bubba Brew's on Norris Lake in Maynardville. The restaurant says some of the tattoos were offensive to families dining there.



Bubba Brew's is a floating sports pub and grill attached to Beach Island Marina, so there's not much of a dress code. People come off the water to eat and drink in their swimsuits and flip flops. It has the only full bar within a 30 mile radius so it draws quite a crowd. But employees say before the sun goes down, it is a family establishment. But when he stopped by Bubba Brew's on Saturday, he says the owner's father made it clear he wasn't welcome. "He said, 'I can't have that "I love strippers" tattoo showing. You're going to have to put your shirt on,'" recalled McKeown.

"There were some kids trying to figure out what he had written all over his body. You know, it's real simple. We pay the mortgage, we pay the insurance, we're going to make the rules," said Ned Bass. He says the restaurant doesn't have a problem with tattoos; Bubba himself has several. The issue was some specific ink. "In a family-oriented establishment, you can't have the obscenities he has on his body. That's free speech. He can go to the beach, but he can't come to Bubba Brew's," Bass said.



McKeown admits the cartoon on his side is a mistake from his younger days, but he says he was unfairly singled out from others he's seen at the bar in the past. "I've seen Nazi tattoos on people. I've seen naked women tattoos on people down there," McKeown claims. "That's incorrect. That's totally incorrect," Bass countered."In the five years I've been here, I don't think I've ever seen tattoos that bad, quite honestly." Bubba Brew's has banned McKeown for the next year, but McKeown said he has no desire to go back after the way he was treated. Legal analyst Greg Isaacs says the restaurant was within its rights since people with tattoos are not protected under anti-discrimination laws.

With news video.