A member of Latin country-rock band The Mavericks has reported being assaulted over the weekend “for speaking Spanish.” Trumpet player Lorenzo Molina Ruiz described an assault that he and his friend Orlando Morales endured while at a sports bar Tony’s Eat & Drink in Franklin over the weekend. Ruiz created on a GoFundMe for fellow musician Morales which has already raised over $20,000. Betty Malo, the wife of Mavericks lead singer Raul Malo, shared an account of the incident on her Instagram account which you can read below.
The restaurant said in a social media post that they were working with the police to help the investigation: “We would like to send our deepest condolences to the individuals affected by the altercation that occurred,” management wrote in a statement. “We want to be clear that we do not support racism or condone hate crimes at our establishment and are taking this matter seriously. We do not nor have we ever allowed for violence to perpetuate for any reason and in this specific instance, our security staff acted quickly and reasonably to bring the altercation to an end.”
Americana UK sends it very best wishes to Lorenzo and Orlando, and as we noted on our social media, if you’re over there please do vote next month.
