Florida bar owner vows to throw out customers for wearing masks: 'It’s hindering our lifestyle'

A Florida bar owner is prohibiting the use of face masks inside his establishment.

Gary Kirby, who owns Westside Sports Bar and Lounge in Melbourne, doesn't believe masks prevent the spread of coronavirus and doesn't want customers wearing them inside his business, reported WESH-TV.

“We find it completely unnecessary to have face masks at all," Kirby said. "We do not support them, we do not believe in them."

Kirby invited the TV crew to come inside, but the WESH team opted to speak to the bar owner by phone -- although reporters from a nearby Fox affiliate visited the sports bar.

"It's hindering our lifestyle as we know it," Kirby told WOFL-TV, noting that his bar had recently been robbed by a suspect wearing a surgical mask. "That crime has not been solved yet."

He banned masks from the bar on Sept. 11, with signs saying, "end this nonsense," and the policy has attracted bad reviews by internet users all over the world, in addition to new customers attracted by the ban.

"I'm getting messages on my Facebook saying, 'Hey, football -- we're coming there to watch the game," Kirby told WOFL.