"Nobody is going to tell me what I can and cannot sing."
The owners of a pub in Wexford have made a public apology to a musician after he was told by the manager that he couldn't play rebel songs.
The incident happened on Saturday night as musician Luke Whitty was playing in The Crown Bar in Wexford, where, according to his Facebook, he was performing a two hour set which included "a mix of all kinds of music".
He added that near the end of his set a group requested
rebel songs like 'Grace' and 'Come Out Ye Black and Tans', which he happily obliged.
Wexford pub apologise over rebel song ban.
However, a few days after the gig, Luke explained that he got a call from the manager saying that while he appreciated the music, he had two complaints about the rebel songs played.
"He gave me to option to continue to have gigs, but under the restrictions that I was not allowed play rebel tunes ever again, to which I replied 'I am a proud Irishman and nobody is going to tell me what I can and cannot sing.'"
"He responded by saying, 'if that's your beliefs then you are no longer welcome' and then informed me that my gigs for the foreseeable future were no longer required."
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m done with them."
In a response to Luke's post on Facebook, The Crown Bar responded by saying, "Firstly, we would like to extend our sincere and full apology in relation to the phone call you had yesterday with one of our managers, and the stance that was taken during this conversation.
"The call was made in response to a customer complaint he received in relation to the nature of the music you were playing on the Saturday evening. The manager now fully appreciates he overreacted during the conversation, and he regrets the offence caused. Our intention and desire is to always provide an enjoyable atmosphere for both our customers and artists, at all times.
"We would love the opportunity to speak to you in person, we did try to reach out to you yesterday to apologise, clearly it was not our intention to cause any annoyance, but now fully understand how we did so.
"We have always enjoyed having you play in the Crown, this is unchanged. We value your loyalty and sincerely hope you will consider continuing to play in Crown Quarter in the future."
Luke told the
Irish Independent that he had no intention of returning to the pub, despite the apology and invitation back.
"It's damage control for them at this point," Luke said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m done with them. How could I play a gig in there feeling every song was being monitored? I couldn’t go back."
The singer also mentioned that his phone was "buzzing" all night and has offers from pubs all over Ireland and Europe inviting him to play at their venues.
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