'I'm Sorry You Were Offended': Owner Of Brooklyn Bar Refuses To Remove 'Bullet Hole' Wall

The owner of Summerhill is refusing to remove the bullet hole wall that has incited outrage from people in the Crown Heights community.

In a report from Gothamist, during a meeting on Thursday, Becca Brennan, the 31-year-old owner of the controversial Summerhill bar in Crown Heights, listened and responded to concerns about her bar, specifically the fact that the property has a "bullet-hole" wall which she promoted in a press release when it was opening. Members of the Crown Heights community were offended by the press release and called it insensitive, Brennan exploiting the neighborhood's violent past for profit.

READ: Newly Opened Brooklyn Bar Gets Blasted By Locals For Racist Behavior

She tried to backpedal on promoting the wall as such during the meeting, saying:

I loved it. I think it looks nice. People would come in and say, 'Are you keeping that wall?' And I said yes. And some people would say, 'Are those bullet holes?' And I never once to a person said, 'Yes, those are bullet holes.' They are obviously holes from anchors in the wall. That's where the soda fridge was when the bodega was there, ok?

So, I'm sorry I have a sense of humor, and...I was alluding to the fact that people asked if those were bullet holes and I was more trying to focus on the fact that I was keeping the integrity of this one hundred-year-old building, and trying not to cover up the history of my neighborhood and that corner. That's what happened, right? So there was no ill intention, there was no malice. And there was offense taken and I immediately apologized that that offense was taken. And you wouldn't leave me alone after that and it wasn't enough. You moved the goalposts.

However, Brennan said none of this when she initially discussed Summerhill. In the original press release for the bar the statement included the following: "Yes, that bullet hole-ridden wall was originally there and, yes, we're keeping it." Following that, Brennan even admitted that she's not sure it's an actual bullet hole, telling Gothamist, "Just looking at the angle I don't know if that is possible that that's a bullet hole. We call it that because if you look at the history, someone seriously said, 'Isn't that the place where we could buy guns?' And then we were like, 'okay.'"

During the meeting, Brennan only made tensions worse when Charles Joyner, a Crown Heights resident, asked the bar owner if she had any remorse.

"I'm very sorry that you were offended," Brennan responded.

Geoffrey Davis, the local district leader who put together the meeting, said that he will actively work to close Summerhill if the bar does not land in his favor.

Source: gothamist.com