According to online records, the 1933 Lyndale LLC, the owners of the building where Cheers was going to open, filed an eviction summons with Hennepin County on June 13 for reportedly not paying rent for several many months, totaling more than $24,000 according to KSTP.
The bar’s owner ran into significant pushback against his endeavor from the LGBTQ and Jewish community after many anti-Semitic Facebook posts were uncovered. The summons filing came 9 days after TC Jewfolk first published the story about his past comments and the pushback that came from them.
Calls to the attorney for the building owner were not returned at the time of publication.
The bar is located at 1933 Lyndale Ave. S., in the location of the former Rudolph’s BBQ. Emad Abed’s Red Star Group LLC was granted a liquor license in January by the Minneapolis City Council. According to Twin Cities Business, the owner had started a $2 million GoFundMe in an effort to buy the building. The GoFundMe page, which had announced the June 21 opening date for the bar, was deactivated on June 3 for violating the terms of service.
In the way of rapid response to the initial anti-Semitism, Chad Kampe, the owner of Flip Phone Events, organized the June 13 event “L’Chaim, Twin Cities Unite to Fight Anti-Semitism and Hatred” at First Avenue, with proceeds benefiting Jewish Community Action and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Another event, “Queers Against Cheers,” was created to picket the now-canceled grand opening. Kampe expects the event will be canceled.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, a Facebook user by the name of Imad Abed posted that Cheers Minneapolis would no longer be a gay bar but an “alternative bar,” and that the June 21 was not happening because of “rebranding, restructuring and hiring all new management and staff.
