Rakesh Desai, owner of R Bar in downtown Long Beach, went on a brazen tirade filled with homophobic slurs after being denied entry for refusing to wear a mask at a local brewery. Photo: R Bar website.
Rakesh Desai, owner of R Bar in downtown Long Beach, went on a brazen tirade filled with homophobic slurs after being denied entry for refusing to wear a mask at a local brewery.
The incident took place Nov. 14 and was captured on video. It was posted on social media this week.
In the footage (which is posted in a hyperlink below), Desai actually identifies himself and explodes in a verbal attack at the staff outside of Beachwood Brewing, which is located about a block away from R Bar.
“You won’t give me your name? Why would you because you are a faggot,” Desai said to the Beachwood Brewing employee recording the outburst on his phone.
Desai later tells the person recording, “You are nothing, nothing, nothing.”
The recording lasts 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
Desai couldn’t be reached for comment, and staff at R Bar wouldn’t comment.
In an interview with Eater LA, Desai said, “No matter what happened, I should not have reacted that way. I said things that never should have come out of my mouth or anybody else’s. I blew up. I apologize to whoever I’ve hurt in this whole thing.”
The video was posted Wednesday on the (click the link to view the video) Long Beach Food Scene Facebook page. TikTok user Tizzyent then posted the video, which racked up more than 70,000 views in less than one day.
In the video, Desai, holding a face mask, paces at the entrance of Beachwood Brewing.
When employees keep Desai from entering the brewery because he won’t wear his mask, which is required under local and state mandates to enter a restaurant, he starts the tirade.
“You guys think you’re hot shit because you want to wear a mask? You motherfuckers. Call the cops. I’m a local business owner too.”
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The employee recording asks Desai to identify himself, and he says, “Rick Rakesh Desai. I own R Bar.”
R Bar is a sports bar that opened in 2018 near on Third Street just west of Pine Avenue.
The Beachwood Brewery employee shared the footage with the Long Beach Food Scene because he was afraid of any repercussions, said Brian Addison, who operates. the Facebook page.
Later in the video, Desai is irate with a female employee inside the brewery and calls her a “dyke.”
Speaking of the LGBTQ community, Hamburger Mary’s is approximately one block from R Bar and the Beachwood Brewery in downtown Long Beach.
Desai felt comfortable enough to hurl the homophobic slurs with Hamburger Mary’s located in the background.
