Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell made headlines on Monday when he told TMZ he was refused service in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama by a Trump supporting waiter. Maxwell first made national news when he became the first and only player in the MLB to kneel during the National Anthem.

According to Maxwell, the waiter asked him “You’re the guy who took the knee?” Maxwell admitted it was him, and claimed the waiter said “I voted for Trump and I stand for everything he stands for.” Maxwell told TMZ the waiter then refused to serve him. Maxwell was dining with a local politician Devyn Keith who approached management and a new server was provided.

Keith and Maxwell declined to name the establishment, but that didn’t stop the waiter that day from hearing the story and coming forward to tell his side of the tale.

“He is outright lying. This is really upsetting as he was given full service. I didn’t even know who Bruce Maxwell was,” Matt Henry said, a waiter at Keegan’s Public House. According the Henry, a third friend of Maxwell and Keith produced an expired ID, so Henry refused to serve him a beer. Henry claims the friend then followed him into the kitchen.

“He asked me, ‘Don’t you know who Bruce Maxwell is?’ and told me I was making everyone feel uncomfortable. Nobody was even paying attention to them,” Henry claimed. “I didn’t know anything about him or the kneeling. All I know is a friend of mine 15 years ago lost his job for serving someone a drink who happened to be underage, so if anyone looks under 30, I’m going to card them.”

The councilman made a complaint to the restaurant’s manager about Maxwell being uncomfortable, so the manager swapped servers for the group. The manager, Anne Whalen, also verified the waiter’s side of the story.

“Matt came to me and told me that a guy wanted a beer but his ID was not valid and I told him he absolutely could not give it to him, we can go to jail for that in the state of Alabama,” said Whalen.

Maxwell told TMZ about the incident on Monday, claiming it happened his first day back in Alabama at the end of the season. While it appears it took Maxwell nearly a month to come forward with the incident, it only took a day for the waiter to catch wind of it making the rounds and come forward. Since Maxwell and Keith didn’t name the establishment, the waiter and manager had no reason to come forward and bring attention to this situation. It wasn’t as if Henry was trying to clear his good name. Instead, he appears to be irritated by Maxwell’s claims and desired to set the record straight.

The timing is certainly interesting. Maxwell kneels for the National Anthem, launching him from obscurity into the national debate on the protests during the Star Spangled Banner by professional athletes. This leads to, according to Maxwell, a number of prominent athletes reaching out to him. Now, during a lunch with a local politician, he alleges the refusal of service due to his kneeling during the Anthem.

Keith, the councilman who slammed Henry as “an idiot,” has subtly backed away from his original statements. He refused to do an interview, but posted a video on Facebook live in which he apologized to Henry for calling him “an idiot” and claimed he was not at the table when the conversation Maxwell described occurred. Keith did say the incident made him and Maxwell “uncomfortable.”

Maxwell retweeted Keith’s Facebook live post, but hasn’t addressed the situation himself. His last words on the incident were on Twitter in which he implied the waiter was racist.

https://twitter.com/bruu_truu13/status/922958383560323072