*Oakland Athletics rookie catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first MLB player to take a knee during the National Anthem. But when he returned back home in Alabama, he experienced first-hand just how much the locals disapproved of the move.
26-year-old Maxwell told TMZ Sports that when he and a friend from high school who is now a city councilman, hit up a restaurant in Harvest, Ala., a waiter refused to serve him because he of his decision to take a knee in protest of racial inequality and Donald Trump calling kneeling NFL players “sons of bitches.”
Maxwell described the encounter with the waiter to TMZ, “He was like, ‘You’re the guy who took the knee? I voted for Trump and I stand for everything he stands for.'”
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Maxwell comes from a military family and when he took a knee, he also put his hand over his heart. He told Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan: “This is beyond race. This is about our president speaking out in a vulgar, negative way against people exercising their rights in a peaceful manner. It’s about mankind.”
After the waiter refused to serve Maxwell and his friend, they asked the manager of the restaurant for a different server and got one.
Maxwell explained to TMZ in a video: “That’s where I’m from. Unless you’re subject to it, you won’t understand it, you won’t feel it. I’m 26 years old. I’m very respectful. I’m very educated. And it still happens to this day. That’s the reason that I’m kneeling — stuff like that.”
Meanwhile, Matt Henry, the waiter at the restaurant told Fox News that Maxwell is lying about a pro-Trump server refusing to serve him.
“He is outright lying. This is really upsetting as he was given full service, I didn’t even know who Bruce Maxwell was,” Henry said. “This all started because I carded his friend who wanted to order a beer.”
Henry says Maxwell and his councilman companion Devyn Keith were dining with a third person who had an expired ID. The waiter says he denied serving a drink to the friend, triggering the man to follow him into the kitchen where he asked if he knew who Maxwell was.
“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,” Henry said.
The waiter said he was switched to another table after the councilman told the manager Maxwell was uncomfortable.
Restaurant manager Ann Whalen told Fox News that all the fuss was about a guy wanting a beer but wasn’t providing a valid ID.
“It was his friend causing all the fuss, none of us even knew who this baseball player was. I told him I had no idea who he was going on about,” she said. “Eventually Matt just asked if we could put another server on the table so I did. … I can’t believe the story.”
Meanwhile, in case you wondering what Maxwell has been up to since Oakland’s season ended, he’s been doing volunteer work, most recently with a food bank in Sonoma County after wildfires ravaged the area:
Loren having a catch with @bruu_truu13. What a moment. #athletics pic.twitter.com/65Q9LpOcx7
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) October 20, 2017
He also gave his jersey to the young A’s fan who earned national attention when he wrote a letter to the team about losing all his baseball memorabilia in the fires.
Loren having a catch with @bruu_truu13. What a moment. #athletics pic.twitter.com/65Q9LpOcx7
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) October 20, 2017
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