A Puerto Rican restaurant that came under fire this weekend for kicking out men who were dancing together issued an apology, Metro Puerto Rico reports.
Over the weekend, an employee at the Gyros Sample Bar in Orocovis, a municipality in the central mountain range, allegedly told two men who were dancing together that they were not allowed to do so. He said, “Heterosexuals can dance, not a man with another man,” according to Luis Santiago-Rivera, the boyfriend of one of the dancers. Following homophobic slurs, the men, who were vacationing on the archipelago, were allegedly kicked out of the establishment.
“This place is very homophobic. Just got kicked out for dancing with someone who wasn’t even my boyfriend,” Trey May, Santiago-Rivera’s boyfriend and one of the men dancing, said in a video posted on Twitter.
In another video, which has gone viral since CBS reporter David Begnaud tweeted it on Sunday, May is seen dancing with his boyfriend’s friend, Kelvin, while relatives joined alongside them.
The otherwise joyous moment was interrupted when the employee told them to stop.
Representatives of the restaurant told Begnaud over Facebook Messenger that the incident was a misunderstanding and that the men were asked to smoke their e-cigarette outside. While Santiago-Rivera said they were smoking an electronic cigarette, he contends the employee made no mention of their smoking while making his homophobic comments.
The restaurant, which originally told Begnaud they were being “defamed,” said in their open apology that they hoped to speak with the men.
“Our intention is to provide a good service to ALL equally. To the entire community, we had never had any misunderstandings with any member. The doors are open to receive them and treat them as we all deserve. If you give us the opportunity, we will prove it. TO THE BOYS WHO OFFERED OFFENSES. If they communicate with us, we can give them to them personally,” they said in the post.