"Orange is the New Black" star Ruby Rose appears to be applying the irascible temper of her on-screen persona to her real life.
This Friday, the actress was thrown out of a New Orleans restaurant for allegedly throwing a temper tantrum and chucking fries at a bartender. Rose, who was in the Big Easy for a performance, appears to have become upset after a long wait time at the Rebellion Bar and Urban Kitchen. According to the restaurant's owner, Seung Hong, the star was warned that the kitchen was busy before being seated, but elected to dine there anyway. He claims that Rose's group received appetizers 40 minutes after their arrival, and entrees 10 minutes later.
Due to the wait, however, the star and her dining companions asked to speak to a manager after receiving their food. According to Hong, “I offered to comp the appetizers, but [Rose] was losing her cool, and then I offered to buy them a round of drinks. One of my bartenders was walking by and could tell they were upset, and [Rose] threw food at him. Ruby told my bartender that if she was a bigger man, she would kick my ass, meaning me.”
When the bartender turned to leave, however, Rose tossed a fry at his back. Hong recalls, “[the bartender] thought maybe it was an accident, so he came back and he asked, ‘Is everything OK?’ And she picked up a handful of French fries and threw them at him.” The owner continued his statement, saying, “she was just a really rude person who seemed to get a kick out of demeaning another human being. My bartender was very cool, calm and poised throughout, despite her statement. I mean, if he was really as big a jerk as she makes him sound like, wouldn’t he have reacted to having food thrown at him? You’d think he would have retaliated according to the way she is trying to paint him. But no, he was completely professional throughout.”
Following the incident, Hong asked Rose and her group to exit the restaurant, stating “after she threw food at my staff, I just wanted her and her posse to leave and no longer cared about their bill. I gave their entrees to my staff. She is the absolute rudest person we have ever had at Rebellion.”
Unsurprisingly, Rose has a different story about what happened at the Rebellion Bar and Urban Kitchen. She issued a statement saying:
We waited 60 minutes for fries and over 90 minutes for food that never actually arrived. When I asked about it, the bartender offered us drinks. I explained I’m sober, but thank you. He then made some really rude and vulgar comments to the table. When someone makes repeated derogatory jokes about the sobriety I worked so hard to achieve, it’s hard not to react emotionally. So I threw a singular fry at him. Then he came back as we were getting ready to leave and continued making awful comments, so I continued with the fries. Every day I learn new lessons about handling cultural and social ignorance. I am deeply regretful to the French fry and I am regretful that I reacted at all. Maybe next time I won’t throw fries, then again, maybe next time that bartender won’t tell someone who is sober to "go call your f—ing sponsor!”
Fellow diners and wait staff who witnessed the incident, however, seem to verify Hong’s version of the story. A customer in the restaurant at the time wrote, “I was sitting a couple tables over and could hear your childish rant,” while waitress Briana Tosclair is quoted as saying, “I was working and you were completely rude. We warned you about the wait, offered you bar dining (hence the wait) … She was hooting and hollering as she left the establishment … He was not rude or making jabs at her sobriety. She flipped out on him because she can’t control her temper.”
Read the original tweets below in order to form your own opinion about what transpired at the Rebellion Bar and Urban Kitchen Friday night.