Man sues bar after he was allegedly banned for being ‘old, white’

A Maryland man has sued a local bar for discrimination, claiming he was banned from the premises for being an “old white” guy.

Neal Glessner, 52, filed the complaint seeking $500,000 in compensation from Dan’s Restaurant & Taphouse in Boonsboro, which he says rudely booted him on Feb. 18, 2022.

Glessner, a regular customer, complained out loud that his to-go order was taking over 40 minutes to prepare. After he left with his order, manager Mike Skinner allegedly asked Glessner’s friend to tell Glessner he was banned, according to the suit, which was initially filed in December 2022 but amended last week.

Although the friend is not named in the lawsuit, he is identified by multiple outlets, including the Hagerstown Herald Mail, as Circuit Court Judge Joseph Michael.

When Michael refused to pass on Skinner’s message, the irate manager allegedly yelled at him that “You old, white people act like you own everything. Get the f–k out of here!”

The police were called, and bodycam footage of the evening shows Michael leaving the bar without protest. In the video obtained by the Herald Mail, Skinner can reportedly be heard telling Michael that “You [and Glessner] are not allowed to come back here again.”

Almost one year after the incident, Glessner states that he subsequently learned of Dan’s “history of demonstrating animus towards white people.”

Glessner, who runs an IT solutions and hardware company, says that at least a half-dozen other white men have been banned from Dan’s for “otherwise inexplicable reasons.” 

Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke, who co-owns the restaurant with her ex-husband, Dan Aufdem-Brinke, blasted Glessner’s suit as “frivolous” on Facebook last week.

“Mr. Glessner was asked to leave our restaurant due to repeated occurrences of disruptive behavior against members of our team. Nothing more. Nothing less,” she insisted, noting that she and her former partner opened Dan’s as “a place where everyone feels a sense of belonging.”

Glessner’s lawsuit found support from local far-right activist Shaun Porter, who rallied a small group of protestors to wield “Old White Men’s Lives Matter” and “It Is Okay to be White” signs outside the business on Sunday, WUSA9 reported.

In a text message to the outlet, Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke said the restaurant still managed to do its best weekend in months. The windows were definitely emblazoned with the words “They tried to bury us, but they don’t know we are seeds.”

Speaking to The Daily Mail, Glessner lamented that “Dan and Charlotte Aufdem-Brinke are trying to paint me as an angry racist who is willfully acting to dismantle their business with what they term ‘a frivolous, baseless lawsuit.’”

“This couldn’t be further from the truth.”

In another statement on Monday, Glessner clarified that “anyone who thinks this is about BLM, Trump, or any other political issue is ignoring the facts to promote a political agenda that is not mine.”

In her own statement, Aufdem-Brinke told the Mail that Glessner’s suit was grounded “solely on his animosity toward my personal views and our advocacy for social and economic justice.”

She also called his efforts a weak attempt to “bully a successful small businesswoman and community activist into submission.”

In a Facebook update on Tuesday, Dan’s confirmed that, after giving staffers off on Monday for a much-needed day of rest, the taphouse was back in business.

“We will not be discouraged, we will not be stopped. Join us!” the official message read.