Virginia City's Firehouse Saloon Under Fire for Racism Following Viral Video of Alleged Owners

A now-viral video posted to TikTok on August 3 has exposed several event-goers at Virginia City, Nev.'s Firehouse Saloon for alleged racism. The video, which was posted by a Black creator who goes by the name of UncleRicky online, documents his encounter with a group of older white men and women who mocked him outside the establishment, reportedly making racist comments and using slurs against him.

Though the main couple in the video were identified in the comments as Firehouse Saloon's owners, Gary Miller and Janis Cusack, the establishment has since posted a statement on their Facebook page claiming that no one in the video is affiliated with Firehouse Saloon in any way. And now, they've closed their Facebook page entirely.

Here's what we know.

In the video, Ricky calls out a man (who is supposedly Gary Miller) for allegedly making racist remarks toward him: "Where the tree at to hang people at? [sic]" Ricky asks. "You said there's a tree down there to hang people like me." To this, the man responds, "In your backyard."

The man continues to mock Ricky on camera while the group of patrons around them laughs at his distress.

Things escalate when Ricky, who says he was working on the property, is escorted away by two unnamed women, one of whom claims to be the daughter of the main man in the video. The other woman, who has since been reportedly identified as Janis Cusack, says, "Get off my property. ... I'm not saying nothing, I'm telling you to get off my property. [sic]"

She wears a Firehouse Saloon tank top.

However, in a statement posted to their now-deactivated business page on Facebook, which was captured by a news outlet local to the situation, the establishment claims that the people in the video are not affiliated with Firehouse Saloon.

"We woke up this morning to a firestorm; we have seen all the hateful and malicious comments directed toward us and our business," they said. "We have seen the video that is circulating, and those people in the video are absolutely 100 percent NOT US. The lady in the video is wearing a t-shirt that we sell in our bar and that is IT."

Despite this statement, though, viewers of Ricky's video aren't convinced. The establishment has been review-bombed on their Yelp page, now pulling in a solid one-star rating with over 2,900 reviews at the time of writing. One single-star review reads, "Keep deleting bad reviews. It will not change the fact that you are all disgusting, ignorant, [and] racist."

Another review says, "Sir, you should be ashamed of yourself. Actually, your whole family should lay low for a while. I'm more bummed I brought anyone I loved in a place filled with so much hate. I work too hard for my money to support bigotry of any kind. I will not be returning."