UPDATE: Waiter says Bruce Maxwell is lying about being refused service

UPDATE: Earlier this week, Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell told TMZ Sports that a waiter refused to serve him at an Alabama restaurant because he was a Trump supporter and he disagreed with Maxwell’s kneeling protests during the National Anthem late in the season. The original report to that effect is below.

Today, however, the waiter and the restaurant manager say that Maxwell and the man he was eating with, a local city councilman, are lying. First, from Huntsville, Alabama news website, Rocketcitynow.com:

“That is an absolute lie,” said Matthew Henry, the waiter . . . I never mentioned President Trump. I never mentioned kneeling,” Henry said. “I had no idea who he was until his friend told me halfway through the lunch . . . I would like a public apology from Mr. Bruce Maxwell,” Henry said. “And I would like one for all the folks I worked with. He represents Huntsville, Alabama, whether he likes it or not and we’re not the kind of people who would do that kind of thing.”

There is more detail in this Fox News report, where the restaurant’s manager is quoted. The manager backs Henry’s account and says the only point of contention during the lunch was that one of the men dining with Maxwell and the city councilman didn’t have a driver’s license so Henry would not serve him alcohol. The city councilman tried to intervene, allegedly telling the manager at one point who Maxwell was, and the matter was resolved by the person without I.D. not being served and the waiter being reassigned.

Maxwell’s account to TMZ, though not contradicted yesterday, was not as detailed as these reports. It would seem incumbent upon Maxwell and, possibly, the city councilman, who originally backed Maxwell’s story, to come forward and clarify.

It would be most unfortunate -- and a very, very bad look for Maxwell -- if it turns out that Maxwell’s story was made up.

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Tuesday, October 24: Last month Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell made news when he became the first baseball player to take a knee during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality and in support of racial equality. We talked about the possible repercussions Maxwell may face in baseball as a result of that, but it seems he’s getting some blowback elsewhere: from a waiter at a restaurant in his hometown.

Maxwell told TMZ Sports that on his first day back home in Harvest, Alabama after the end of the season, a waiter at a restaurant refused to serve him because of his protest. Maxwell:

“He was like, ‘You’re the guy who took the knee? I voted for Trump and I stand for everything he stands for.’”

Maxwell and his dining companion, a local city councilman, complained to management and got a different server.

All’s well that ends well, I suppose, but this really creates problems for the people who claim to be fine with protests in theory but think that doing it at one’s place of work is a bad idea.

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