Looks like there’s more trouble for Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock ‘n Roll Steakhouse.
According to WKRN, the bar was just one of many establishments that were cited this past weekend for violating the city’s emergency COVID-19 orders on social distancing. And this morning, the Metro Nashville Beer Board voted to suspend their license for five days, along with the licenses of Nudie’s Honky Tonk, Broadway Brewhouse and Moxy Nashville Downtown.
The attorney for Steve Smith, owner of Kid Rock’s and several other lower Broadway bars, said that the suspension would not be immediate, they would have a chance to appeal, and that there would be no change in operations for now.
Smith and his attorneys said earlier this week that they plan to fight the citations and penalties, calling them “selective enforcement” after Mayor John Cooper joined a protest two weeks ago, and large weekly protests continue on Broadway and elsewhere around Nashville.
“It’s unfair for 5,000 people to march in front of our place yesterday in direct violation of the Phase Two order and then for Mayor Cooper and Dr. Caldwell to come in last night and give us citations,” said Bryan Lewis, attorney for the owner of Kid Rock’s and Honky Tonk Central. “This is selective enforcement… Mayor Cooper cannot have it both ways. The business owners in Nashville are sick and tired of this, if we were under Governor Lee’s plan, we would already be in Phase Four.”
Nashville has been stuck in Phase Two of their reopening plan for several weeks now, which allows bars that serve food to reopen at 3/4 capacity and requires that dance floors and bar areas remain closed. However, Nashville announced today that it would be moving to Phase Three next week, which would eliminate some of the restrictions that Kid Rock’s and others were cited for violating.
We’ll have to see what happens and if these bars end up having to serve the suspensions that were handed down today or whether legal challenges will be successful. But it’s safe to say that an already contentious relationship between Kid Rock’s and the Nashville government is not going to get any better.
