Gay bar owner's alleged Facebook posts threaten his new business: 'I hate Israel'

Elise Solé
Updated
The owner of a new Minneapolis gay bar called Cheers, says he did not write Anti-Semitic Facebook messages that are attributed to him. (Photo: cheersmpls.com)
The owner of a new Minneapolis gay bar called Cheers, says he did not write Anti-Semitic Facebook messages that are attributed to him. (Photo: cheersmpls.com)

A gay bar that is planning to open in Minneapolis is already struggling after the owner allegedly called Jewish people “evil” and said they “must be eliminated from existence” on Facebook.

Emad Yousef Abed’s alleged Facebook posts — some from 2015— reappeared when he posted a GoFundMe page with a reported $1.5M goal, to purchase a building for Cheers, a new LGBTQ bar. According to City Pages, Abed had promised donors free drinks and a mention on the “LGBT wall of fame” on the June 21 opening, one day before the city’s Pride Weekend.

The GoFundMe page was reportedly deleted, although a spokesperson did not reply to Yahoo Lifestyle’s requests for comment.

According to the Star Tribune, a Minneapolis man named Andy Birkey (who declined an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle) decided to look at Abed’s Facebook page, where he was “really shocked” by the rhetoric.

The owner of a new gay bar in Minneapolis says he didn't write Anti-Semitic posts under his Facebook page. (Photo: Facebook/Emad Yousef Abed)
The owner of a new gay bar in Minneapolis says he didn't write Anti-Semitic posts under his Facebook page. (Photo: Facebook/Emad Yousef Abed)

Facebook users saved posts under Abed’s name. “Israeli’s are f***ing criminals, Hitler should have finished them all,” read one. “There would be peace in the world today. Maybe we should remove them from Palestine to send them by themselves to live on the moon.”

One post told a person to keep their “fat a**” away from his bar. “I’m in business to make money,” read the comment. “Or do you think I’m in business for your ugly evil eyes…”

Facebook user Jason Koffman, 48, of Minneapolis collated the posts into an album. “The gay community has found the posts disturbing,” Koffman tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I can’t imagine this business will last long, if it opens at all.”

Abed first told City Pages that the Facebook posts belonged to him, but he is not anti-Semitic. “Most of my friends are Jewish, and I love them,” he said.

But Abed now tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “None were written by me. Andy Birkey is jealous and biased against a foreigner opening an 8,000 square-foot restaurant and he objected to our GoFundMe campaign. Every one of these posts were doctored.” Abed says he plans to take legal action against Birkey for sparking a backlash.

A phone number for the bar is not working and no one at the business replied to an email from Yahoo Lifestyle. According to City Pages, Nate McClaine and Courtney Johnson, who are the bars’ managers and a gay couple, defended Abed.

"We're just trying to open a bar," Johnson told City Pages, saying his boss "has nothing against gays.”

And McClaine told City Pages, "People have their different views.” He said Abed’s posts "got blown out of proportion.” McClaine also told the Star-Tribune, “I can’t say anything about the owner’s beliefs. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to make this better.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who reportedly said that locals should take their business to “other welcoming LGBTQ bars,” tells Yahoo Lifestyle, “In 2012, I was one of many allies who stood with the LGBTQ community to defeat the hateful amendment to the Minnesota constitution against marriage equality. Today I’m grateful that the LGBTQ community is standing in solidarity with, and wrapping their arms around, me and our community.”

Three hundred people who joined the Facebook group “Queers Against Cheers: Protest Anti-Semitism” will organize on June 21. “Let's demonstrate the revolutionary spirit of Stonewall with a good old-fashioned sidewalk picket with whimsy and camp,” the organizers wrote on their page. “We're gonna show this looney tune what happens when you try to come into our community to make a buck while degrading us. Hell to the no… Bring signs, dress up, and make a big queer show of it.”

Event organizer Sam Doten tells Yahoo Lifestyle that his group will plan ahead with Jewish and LGBTQ leaders. “Right now, we will protest the s*** out of this thing,” he says, “and have a great time doing it.”

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