A Chicago restaurant is suing a Generation Z TikToker for defamation after she claimed in a viral video that a bouncer at the establishment threw her down a flight of stairs, even though surveillance footage later showed her being safely escorted out.
TikToker Hurls Accusation At Restaurant
Daily Mail reported that it all started when Julia Reel, 22, took to TikTok to call out the swanky Chicago restaurant Hubbard Inn, alleging that a bouncer there forcibly pulled her from a second floor bathroom and threw her down a flight of stairs just after midnight on March 10.
“‘I’m just pushed down. He sends me flying down the staircase,” Reel said in the video that has since been deleted.
Reel then filed a police report in which she claimed that a bouncer pulled her out of a restroom stall while she was urinating and said, “We know what you are doing.” She then alleged that before she could fully dress, she was pushed toward the exit.
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Hubbard Inn Fires Back
After being hit with tons of backlash over Reel’s claims, Hubbard Inn fired back by filing a lawsuit against the TikToker for defamation. The restaurant also released footage showing Reel safely being escorted out of the establishment by a security guard.
“Below is footage of Ms. Reel walking down the stairs toward the exit,” the restaurant said in the caption of the footage. “She was politely escorted off the premises, ensuring a safe exit.”
In the lawsuit, Hubbard Inn alleged that Reel and her friend were verbally abusive to staff in the second-floor restroom, which led to them being escorted outside by the security guard.
“Not surprisingly, Hubbard Inn’s security camera footage does not cover every square foot of the premises,” the lawsuit stated. “The footage does show, however, Defendant being calmly escorted… out of the establishment.”
“This clearly contradicts her false allegations that she was ‘grabb[ed],’ ‘manhandle[d],’ and ‘dragg[ed]’ out of the bathroom and into the hallway, and ‘shoved’ down the stairs, sending her ‘flying down the rest of the staircase,’ at which point she ‘slammed her head on the ground,” it continued.
“We are a small business and the staff is family, which is why we had no choice but to take this step,” a spokesperson for restaurant owner Carmen Rossi told The New York Post.
Reel Responds
Reel has since responded through her lawyers, who claim that the surveillance footage presents a “misleading narrative.”
“Respectfully, we urge the public to hold off on a rush to judgment and/or victim shaming until all of the evidence is presented in a court of law,” Reel’s attorneys said in a video of their own.
“It is undisputed that Ms. Reel sustained a concussion and presented to the hospital with visible lacerations and other evidence of significant injury,” they added.
As of this writing, no arrests have been made in connection to this incident. The case is scheduled to go to court on May 23.
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