On the eve of and controversial speech at the University of Florida in Gainesville that led to the governor declaring a state of emergency, the man who helped organize it was denied entry to a bar -- and had a lot to say about it.
Cameron Padgett, the alt-right "Identitarian," who was the subject of a Miami Herald profile published just an hour prior to his reported denied entry at Tall Paul's bar in Gainesville, took to Twitter to express his frustrations after the bar reportedly refused to honor their promise of a free beer in exchange for tickets to the Spencer event.
After recounting how the bar's bouncer reportedly told him to "get out," Padgett then claimed that if he were "a Black Lives Matter" activist denied entry, "there'd be a major outroar [sic] in this town."
"They kicked me out the bar -- actually the guy shoved me out the bar, and said 'get out of the bar now,'" Padgett claimed. He went on to claim that "the guy" called him a Nazi, took his ID to look him up, and told him "I don't ever want to see you in Gainesville again."
Shortly after Padgett posted the video, Tall Paul's told a different story of the supposed altercation on their Facebook page.
"Richard Spencer event organizer Cameron Padgett just came by the bar/brewery attempting to trade 3 event tickets (that we attempted, but were unable to verify, as they have not been publicly released)," their post read. "After entering, he began live tweeting video and his friendly demeanor changed from naive and friendly to aggressive and concerning. We asked him to leave, at which point he began fabricating false slurs we had used (we were still unaware of what he was doing but would insult him??) and continued to film to create a false narrative. Please everyone use and caution and be safe. A non-violent approach may still be met with aggressiveness."
Tall Paul's made headlines in recent days for their "free beer for free speech" exchange, which offered people free beer in exchange for their tickets to Spencer's speech in hopes that the seats would remain empty.
Along with his video detailing the account, Padgett also posted one that appeared to be filmed inside the bar, and multiple others that decry the "radical communists here in Florida" and double down on his claims that he'd been "discriminated against." In one video on the way to the bar, Padgett admitted he went to Tall Paul's to "troll them."
Watch Padgett's account of his denied entry to the bar opposing the speech he organized below.
I was discriminated against at Tall Paul's bar in Florida. They said 2 beers for one ticket to the @RichardBSpencer event. Not for me. 😂 pic.twitter.com/VQfx7Doh1F
— Cameron Padgett (@CameronVPadgett) October 18, 2017