TRUE Kitchen Anti-Twerking Rant Video

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Part of a series on Twerking. [View Related Entries]

Overview

TRUE Kitchen Anti-Twerking Rant Video refers to a controversial viral video in which Kevin Kelley, the owner of TRUE Kitchen and Kocktails in Dallas, Texas scolds his clientele apparently after a woman was twerking in his restaurant. The video sparked debate, particularly among Black Twitter users, about whether Kelley's rant was justified.

Background

On November 29th, 2020, Twitter user @DJGreenVillain posted a video of Kevin Kelley scolding his restaurant's clientele, evidently after someone was twerking in his restaurant, saying "All this twerking shit, don’t bring it here because we’re a restaurant. If you wanna do it, get the fuck out my restaurant. Don’t do it again. I don’t want to hear it if you don’t like it, get out because I don’t need your money." The song playing that led to the incident was Lil Ronny MothaF’s “Circle (Throw Dat Ass In A Circle).”^[1]

Developments

The video sparked debate on social media on whether Kelley's actions were justified. Twitter user @Yosnier^[2] tweeted, "that man really jeopardized his business to scold black women for twerking all because he allowed the dj to play ass shaking music…," gaining over 140 retweets and 1,500 likes (shown below, left). User @The1stGentleman^[3] also voiced his displeasure with Kelley's actions, tweeting, "Y'all think him telling customers to Get TF out his restaurant is ok? Y'all standards is low. He could have spoke with the party that was twerking on his furniture instead of trying to lecture a restaurant full of Black women. Mf think he Uncle Clifford lol," gaining over 230 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, right).

In a thread on Facebook,^[4] Kelley defended himself, saying he had politely asked the twerking women to stop twerking multiple times and alleged they were doing so on the furniture of the restaurants (shown below, left). On Facebook, Kelley's actions were more widely defended. A comment defending Kelley from user Darius Johnson^[5] gained over 60 reactions (shown below, right).

Other users made jokes about the controversy. User @TonjaStidhum^[6] made a Jason Derulo Has Fallen Down The Stairs joke about the controversy, gaining over 1,100 retweets and 6,000 likes (shown below, left). User @Jazzlandia^[7] made a joke that gained over 4,400 retweets and 16,000 likes (shown below, right).