Jeff Ruby was appalled when double-murderer OJ Simpson and a party of twelve sat down at his steakhouse the eve of the Kentucky Derby when a customer expressed giddiness about seeing the infamous celebrity. So Ruby announced to Simpson that he wasn’t welcome in the restaurant, and Simpson left, and Ruby got a standing ovation from the other customers for putting principle ahead of profits. Now Simpson’s attorney, Yale Galanter, is threatening to sue Ruby for racial discrimination; the Reverend Louis Coleman of the “Justice Resource Center” is picketing Ruby’s.
Ruby’s has a plausible defense that their action wasn’t based on race: a famous black athlete who didn’t murder two people, Michael Jordan, walked in five minutes after Simpson left and got a table. (Angie Fenton, “Get Buzzed: Jeff Ruby turned away O.J. Simpson”, Louisville Courier-Journal, May 8; Angie Fenton, “O.J. went to neighboring restaurant after Ruby’s stop”, Louisville Courier-Journal, May 9; Beth Campbell, AP/WaPo, May 9).
Update: Ruby explicitly denies the racial discrimination argument. (Courier-Journal, May 10).
12 Comments
How many Race Cards does OJ have up his sleeve?
“No shirt, no shame, no service.”
The idea that Ruby kicked OJ out because of race is ludicrous. Ruby runs several top-notch restaurants, and is a favorite of Cincinnati Bengals and Reds (not to mention the visiting athletes. It’s part of what Ruby does. This is the best marketing Ruby could get – especially for the out-of-town market.
The man was acquitted on criminal charges. In the eyes of Justice, he is innocent. It’s in the court of public opinion where he is held guilty. Fortunately, in this country, the court of public opinion has no power in criminal cases. At least so far.
And as to the civil suit that he lost, do not forget that a civil suit is not a criminal charge. Many people get the two confused and comingled. He may owe money according to a court judgement, but you can’t get blood from a stone. 33 million! I don’t for a moment believe that Goldman and Brown would have earned that amount in their lifetimes.
The next time I’m in Louisville, I’ll make sure not to go to Ruby’s.
Just because a judge permitted defense attorneys to abuse the process and a jury ignored the facts in the OJ Simpson case doesn’t require the rest of the world to be similarly irrational and ignore the fact that he murdered two people. The only thing the jury verdict means is that he won’t suffer any criminal consequences for his criminal act.
another two other tidbits that Mr. Galanter “overlooked”:
1) Mr. Simpson had dined at this establishment on more than one previous occasion in the past without incident. These past visits occurred prior to his murder trial.
2) Jeff Ruby had pictures of Mr. Simpson prominently hung in the restaurant. In fact, Mr. Ruby had a picture of himself with Mr. Simpson taken and hung, but removed it from the public view after Mr. Simpson’s civil trial.
O.J. and his legal team can play the race card as much as they want, however this is not about race, but Mr. Ruby’s specific refusal to serve Mr. Simpson due to his onerous history.
What really disappoints me is how many are willing to buy into Simpson’s claim (such as Rev. Coleman) and that Ruby’s same line of reasoning has been used in the past against members of the current administration and members of the armed forces with nary an eye batted (sorry to bring politics into it, but it was the best example I had in memory at the time).
It doesn’t help O.J.’s claim of racial discrimination much that public outrage forced his publisher to cancel his planned book, “If I Did It.” Presumably, O.J. the Knife attributes that to racial prejudice, too.
Not being an attorney I realize that I sometimes ask dumb questions. Could you guys indulge me for one more? Since Mr. Simpson has been acquitted by a jury isn’t calling him a double murderer in print a bit libelous? I can see accused double murderer or alleged double murderer but can they print that just because they believe him guilty?
Who really gives a damn about OJ 12 years later? Other than his attorney, who needs something to do in order to gin up fees.
Truth is a defense to a libel action, which is a civil suit where the burden of proof is merely a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. Note that Simpson has already lost against that burden of proof in the wrongful death case.
Having said all that, if Simpson were to sue for libel, the big issue at trial would be the truth of the allegedly libelous statements, and frankly, OJ will have a hard time with that one and should avoid that battle if he can.
I am assumming that oj did not know Ruby had turned against him or that he was in such need for publicity that he would pull this stunt to get on Fox (play news)channel. I am not sure he was thinking as a racist as much as he was about this million dollar free opportunity for the PR he could get.
I don’t know what the laws are in his town but he does have a consumer affairs license issued by the PUBLIC that requires him to serve all orderly PUBLIC patrons that come to his resturant. Don’t know if Oj will sue or let it go(it is not that important) but if he does
and old ruby has to pay Oj then Fred Goldman may smile as he will have some new cash he can go after.
I know of no requirement to serve everyone who comes through the door, as long as you don’t preclude based on a protected characteristic (ie., no handicapped allowed). Many restaurants have a sign saying they reserve the right to refuse service to whomever they choose. Do you think that a drunk smelling of puke w/ money in his pocket must be seated next to you?