None Chairs on the roof near the two police officers.
The Nashville City Council voted 30-3 Tuesday night to reject a proposed sign for Morgan Wallen’s This Bar & Tennessee Kitchen, which is set to open this weekend.
The sign would have been posted on a public sidewalk, like the ones at many bars in the neighborhood. Such signs require local government approval, but it’s not usually a controversial process.
During the debate, council members said Warren’s words were hateful and her actions were harmful, and that she had been given multiple second chances.
“I don’t want to see a sign with the name of someone who threw a chair off a balcony or said racist things,” said City Councilwoman Delicia Porterfield, who is Black.
Councilman Jacob Kupin, who introduced the proposal, said he had “thought long and hard” about what to do in the wake of Warren’s actions.
He said TC Restaurant Group, the third-party organization that manages the business, has been a “really good partner” and has worked hard to make downtown Nashville safer.
The Associated Press reached out to Warren’s publicist and TC Restaurant Group for comment on the Congressional vote.
“The fact that someone’s name is banned does not mean we condone all their actions, but we thank you again for your efforts to make amends and your positive response. We also hope that the operators themselves should not do the same.” I think we’re being punished for what happened,” Kupin said.
Warren’s first criminal trial was postponed until August 15th.
According to an arrest affidavit, the chair Warren allegedly threw from the six-story roof of Chief’s Bar on April 7 landed about a yard away from the two officers.
Witnesses told officers they saw Warren pick up a chair, throw it off the roof and laugh about it.
He is charged with three felony counts of endangerment and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Warren said in a statement that she accepts “responsibility” and is “not proud” of her actions.
The statement mentioned making “amends” and contacting law enforcement.
Wallen’s album “One Thing at a Time” spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard 200 in 2023 and was the most-consumed album in the U.S. last year.
The album’s top 10 hits included “Last Night,” “You Proof,” and “Thinkin’ Bout Me.”
In 2021, Wallen was suspended indefinitely by his own record label after a video was leaked of him shouting a racial slur, though he later claimed he was unaware of using it.
Kid Rock’s bar, not far from Warren’s new location, was the scene of a previous controversy over a sign.
Ahead of the 2019 vote, some City Council members lamented the design, which features a giant guitar with the bottom of the instrument intentionally shaped like a woman’s buttocks. In the end, they approved it.
