Burkhart's seems to be faltering this weekend amid two things a business really dos not need – a botched sale and a racism scandal. The business remained closed Saturday after the bar's sale supposedly fell through. The sale, a shock to many that it was even occurring, disappeared one day after it was announced.
WSBT.tv had this to report.
But it would not open the next night. The sale was postponed and general manager Don Hunnewell said the bar would remain closed on Saturday – and possibly longer- and this tweet was sent out.
The sale of Burkhart's was announced a day after the bar's lineup of entertainers resigned and left the venue without its lineup of shows that draw customers and drive liquor sales.
"The sale fell through so it's back up for sale. We have some people that are interested in it," Mary Marsh told WSB on Saturday.
The controversy erupted Jan. 19 when Wussy Mag exposed a series of racist and offensive posts from the Facebook account of Palmer Marsh, who co-owns the bar with his wife Mary. One of the posts from 2015 refers to then President Obama with a racist slur, while others praise "Confederate values." – projectq.us
On eof the more recent tweets involved Brack Obama and Vladimir Putin.
The Georgia Voice uncovered an additional post from Marsh's Facebook account from 2015 that supports the Confederate flag.
On Saturday morning, more than 150 people – including several of the drag queens who quit the bar this week – took part in a public forum about the controversy.
We love Burkhart's when we visit. The people of Atlanta are welcoming, loving people. The staff at Burkhart's was always nice and accommodating. We hope this Atlanta institution can recover and rise from these controversies and become the fun and inviting place we love to go to in ATL.