Social media firestorm erupts after bar's controversial email response

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Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Heights Club Owner accused of rascism defends herself
Heights club owner stands behind the statements she made in a letter that have led to a boycott.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A Heights-area bar is facing backlash after an email response to a local producer went viral.

Garrett Brown, also known as TrakkSounds, is a producer and DJ for artists such as Bun B, 2Chainz, A$AP Rocky, Nipsey Hussle and Jhene Aiko. Brown says he tried to book a show when he got a racist reply from a rep from Fitzgerald's Live. The club is located in the 2700 block of White Oak Drive in Houston.

"It was very shocking," Brown told ABC13.

Brown said the response from the club was laced with the N-word and other expletives. The full response is below:

He replied to the email saying, "Wow...sounds like quite the stereotype but if that's how you feel then all power to you. A simple no would have worked as well but sounds like you have some aggression build up about something else. Have a good week and God bless you."

"The boycotting for @FitzgeraldsLive starts now. This type of response is a disgrace. I will never step foot inside of this place again," Brown tweeted.

In an email exchange between Brown and a rep from Fitzgerald's Live, the club continued to deny any wrongdoing:

"God bless me??? Why not have your artist play at your church? See if your mother likes that language. I see you started a blast against me on the net. Now who's aggressive? You're right, I should have just said PASS. I get insulted when men submit music to me that refers to women as bi***** and h***, just like you would get insulted if a white man sent you music calling black men racial slurs. Your music plays into all stereotypes...gangsters, drugs, women hating, racial slurs, etc. My email just repeated words from your artist's music, now you are attributing them to me. I'm racist for repeating the words to YOUR music. Really?"

Across social media, many users have showed their support to Brown and others have offered to move their shows to another venue.

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