TAYLOR, Mich., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- A Michigan barkeep says his effort to forbid patrons from wearing motorcycle club and gang colors has been misinterpreted as an effort to bar non-whites.

Aaron Stevens, co-owner of Beer Belly's Bar & Grill in Taylor, said the bar received about 40 phone calls Wednesday about the sign outside the club that says "No Colors Allowed," a day after a video of it appeared on Facebook, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.


Stevens said the video includes a man saying, "Look at that there, no colored people allowed."

"Everybody's asking, 'Do you guys not allow colored people in the bar, or do you not allow black people in the bar?" Stevens told the Free Press. "I keep trying to explain what it's really about. ..."

Stevens, who co-owns the bar with his dad, Jeff, said they posted the sign when they took over the bar three years ago.

"There's a lot of bikers in this area, and that's just to keep the biker gangs [from] getting into it with each other," the younger Stevens said.

"We're really the furthest thing from a racist bar," he told the Free Press. "We have a mixed crowd. We have a lot of regulars that are African American."

Stevens said he doesn't know the man who posted the video, but may try to personally reach out to him.