Proud Boys have been patronizing a Hillsborough bar. Could town act against owners?
CORRECTION: The story was corrected at 1:57 p.m. July 27, 2021, to reflect that Vince Tesoro, who was formerly married to Kim Tesoro, is no longer a co-owner of Hot Tin Roof.
A Hillsborough resident wants local leaders to remove two business owners from their Chamber of Commerce and tourism board roles over concerns that members of a violent, extremist group have been patronizing a downtown bar.
Resident Colin Dodd first posted his request on Facebook, describing his June 26 experience at the Hot Tin Roof on West Margaret Lane. On Wednesday, he posted an open letter on the Chapelboro website.
Hundreds of comments have been posted to Dodd’s Facebook page in support of his request. The incident has stoked long-simmering anger about Ku Klux Klan and neo-Confederate protesters who have targeted the historic downtown over the last several years.
Some supporters are pushing for a boycott of Hot Tin Roof, a membership-only bar that founder and co-owner Mark Bateman described as a “juke joint” offering live music, food trucks and karaoke. The bar also has hosted town and Chamber events.
The Hillsborough Town Board is on its summer break until August, but the town is gathering information about the issue, Mayor Jennifer Weaver said by phone Tuesday. She declined to say whether the board might take any future action.
“Hillsborough’s a place we want to be safe and welcoming,” Weaver said. “That is so important, and it’s something we work really hard on, and to have a group like that that is a known, violent extremist group to be making their presence known in any kind of overt way … that creates a situation where that feeling of safety is threatened.”
A resident who was walking by the bar on June 26 did call the Hillsborough Police Department to report a group of people in Proud Boys clothing playing cornhole on the patio, Police Chief Duane Hampton said in an email Thursday. The caller said “they were not causing a disturbance or doing anything wrong that she could see,” he said.
“As far as I know there are no incidents of violence, intimidation, disturbances or any crimes related to anyone identifying or being alleged to be associated with the Proud Boys that have been reported to us,” Hampton said.
Proud Boys among patrons
Bateman and Dodd, a bar regular, told The News & Observer in interviews this week that Hot Tin Roof has built a diverse clientele, including people of color, transgender individuals and those who identify as LGBTQ. It also attracts people from a range of political persuasions, from conservative to liberal and progressive.
Dodd said he felt comfortable inviting friends and bringing his daughters to Sunday night karaoke at the bar, but that changed last month when he stopped by to see a friend’s band perform.
The friend, known to bar regulars as DJ Steph, wasn’t there, Dodd said. He learned later that she had quit because of her concerns that roughly a dozen men identified as Proud Boys were hanging out in their “uniforms” — black Polo shirts with yellow piping, and T-shirts and hats with the Proud Boys name and logo, a west-facing rooster.
The Proud Boys group identifies itself as a brotherhood promoting Western chauvinism and opposing political correctness and anti-racial guilt, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and other groups that track hate groups.
However, its members have marched with alt-right and white supremacist groups and engaged in violence and intimidation, including at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
One well-known Proud Boys member, a Hillsborough resident, has been hanging out at Hot Tin Roof for several months, Dodd and others said. He occasionally brought other Proud Boys with him to the bar, Bateman said.
Dodd said he didn’t see a problem on June 26 until he stepped out of the bar for a cigarette and started talking with a man in a Proud Boys T-shirt about his beliefs. After confronting the man about the group’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Dodd said he approached bar co-owner Kim Tesoro and asked her about it.
Tesoro, who is the chief executive officer of the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce, told him to “calm down,” Dodd said. That’s when he left the bar.
“It was so shocking and enraging to me that I … went home and got on Facebook, and I haven’t stopped since,” Dodd said.
He’s now asking the Town Board to remove Tesoro from the Chamber of Commerce, and to remove Tesoro and Bateman from the Hillsborough Tourism Board.
“They’re a private business, and they can drive themselves into the ground if they want to, but that’s like a bar in the heart of downtown two blocks from every other bar downtown, and if it becomes a clubhouse for the Proud Boys, that’s obviously incredibly bad for business,” Dodd said.
Hate group colors, intimidation
Kim Tesoro has referred questions about the issue to attorney Lynne Holtkamp, who emailed a statement Wednesday on behalf of the bar, saying that its owners “are deeply saddened by the allegations made by Mr. Dodd” and looking for a way to move forward.
“Hot Tin Roof has enjoyed a long history of inclusivity and diversity with our clients which we have worked very hard to ensure as a reflection of our own beliefs and convictions. We absolutely do not endorse or support in any way any kind of racist behavior, not now and not ever,” the statement said.
“Effective immediately, we are posting rules that absolutely prohibit anyone from wearing or bringing to our business any kind of insignia, emblems, etc. which represents any kind of hate group, including specifically the Proud Boys. Should any event like this happen again, staff will be trained to use the rules to have the person or persons removed from the premises immediately.”
People affiliated with the Proud Boys have been patronizing the bar for several months, Bateman told The N&O on Wednesday.
The bar’s former DJ, Stephany Perry, raised concerns when the group’s members showed up wearing their colors in December, he said. The men removed their Proud Boys gear and covered up their shirts after he approached them, Bateman said.
There was a similar occurrence about three months ago, but as a minority owner, he can’t make unilateral changes, Bateman said. He noted in a text message later Wednesday that he was speaking for himself and not for the bar.
“I don’t want (the conflict) in there,” Bateman said. “If you came in and started talking back during the election about Trump, I shut you down. If you came in and started doing your Biden crap, I shut you down. I just want people to come socialize and have a beverage.”
Perry, who has been active in anti-racist protests, told The N&O on Wednesday that the local Proud Boys member became a regular at her performances. He would engage in “silent intimidation” by sitting nearby, staring and smiling at her in a way that made her uncomfortable, she said.
She also grew concerned for her fans, many of whom identify as LGBTQ and might be intimidated by seeing Proud Boys at the bar, she said. On June 26, after raising her concerns again to Tesoro, she walked out, leaving her band to perform without her, she said.
The owners could have just banned the Proud Boy shirts, Perry said.
“It is absolutely acceptable to ask an establishment to make everyone feel safe by not letting groups wear colors into the bar,” Perry said. “They do so with motorcycle clubs. People don’t allow white T-shirts because it’s gang-related, or baggy pants, so I’m trying to understand what made them the exception.”
Bar changes, town investigation
The bar banned gang colors, hate groups and political discussions that cross the line when it opened several years ago, Bateman said, but the rules weren’t as firmly enforced during COVID, when they were struggling to stay afloat. He has since reposted them, he said.
They can’t ask every patron about their politics, Bateman said, but “we are trying our best to fix it.”
They’re also looking into a lawsuit against Dodd, who has created a new Facebook page, Hot Klan Roof.
Town Board member Matt Hughes, who also reached out to the bar’s owners, declined to discuss his conversations. Bateman is one of four town bar and restaurant owners who serve on the nine-member tourism board; Tesoro is the Chamber representative.
The town can remove tourism board members “for good cause,” Hughes said, but it does not have the authority to remove Tesoro as CEO of the nonprofit chamber. The town’s rules do not define what constitutes a “good cause” situation.
The N&O’s efforts to contact Tom Stuckmeyer, president of the chamber’s 15-member Board of Directors, by phone and email were unsuccessful.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 11:05 AM.
