PHILADELPHIA -- LeSean McCoy did in fact leave a 20-cent tip for a waiter at a Philadelphia restaurant on Monday. The Eagles running back said it was a deliberate statement on the quality of service.
"I tip on my service," McCoy said Thursday. "There's a difference between good service and bad service and just having a bad day. There's a big difference between just being rude and disrespectful. That's how that went."
McCoy and some friends had lunch Monday afternoon at PYT, a burger place in the Northern Liberties section of the city. The check came to $61.56. McCoy, who has a base salary of $7.6 million in 2014, added a 20-cent gratuity and signed the tab with a flourish.
"A 20-cent tip is kind of a statement," McCoy said. "You can't disrespect somebody and expect them to tip you. I don't care who the person is. That's why I left my card, so they could see my name."
Tommy Up, a co-owner of the restaurant, took a photo of the receipt and posted it on the restaurant's Facebook page.
Through social media, a small controversy erupted. Up said McCoy and his party were rude to the server. McCoy said the server was rude. Actor Charlie Sheen, seeing the story via Twitter, offered to give the waiter $1,000.
dear Tommy Up at PYT in Philly. Please tell Rob K I'm pledging 1000 dollars to him for the tip debacle just wanna help. c #NoJudgement
- Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) September 10, 2014"I'm happy he's finally doing something positive," McCoy said. "That's cool. Any restaurant I go around Philadelphia, I tip very well. You check on that restaurant. Everybody was talking bad about that place [on Facebook and Twitter]. But good food, good food."