This article was originally published with The Red & Black on June 5, 2015 and can be found here.

Interrupt if you’ve heard this one before: a guy walks into a bar. Well, a guy tries to walk into a bar. The bouncer stops him and tells him he’s not allowed in.

Looking for the punch line? It’s a popular joke setup, but the situation that played out at Athens’ 100 Proof on the first weekend in May is no laughing matter.

Former Georgia fullback Alexander Ogletree took to Twitter after midnight on May 3 to vent his frustrations about an incident at the bar. 

Ogletree, along with another black male and two white females, went to 100 Proof around 12:30 a.m.  The two women took the lead and were admitted by the bouncer stationed outside. When it was Ogletree’s turn to walk through, the 23-year-old was stopped.

“I showed the [bouncer] my ID and then he looked down at my shoes and said, ‘I can’t let you in with basketball shoes on’,” Ogletree said. “He said they have a strict dress code, but I looked at other guys who were already in the bar and they had running shoes on and other types of non-dress shoes.”

Ogletree’s friend was also not allowed in due to the holes in his pants. After asking a nearby police officer about being denied, Ogletree and his companions left. The situation seemed clear to Ogletree: He said he felt the policies were meant to keep black customers out.

Frustrated, he tweeted about the situation at 12:54 a.m., saying, “I just got denied to go into a bar because I had basketball shoes on! At 100Proof bar in Athens GA! #smh.”

His tweet caught the attention of several Georgia students, who quickly tweeted similar stories.

 It also led to responses by a few Bulldogs football players, including running back Keith Marshall and former wide receiver Chris Conley.

“100 proof is racist,” Conley replied to Ogletree on Twitter. “Publicly I might add. Pretty sure that’s illegal.”

Madison Silva, a senior marketing major from Suwanee, was one of many who voiced their displeasure with the bar after the tweets by Ogletree and Conley. Silva said she had no issue with 100 Proof until an incident in March. She and Ray Buchanan Jr., a friend from Suwanee and the son of former NFL player Ray Buchanan, planned to have some drinks at 100 Proof.

The idea was shot down when the bouncer did not allow Buchanan Jr. entry because of his basketball shoes.

“He pointed out to the bouncer multiple white students that had on similar shoes as him and the bouncer just ignored him,” Silva said. “This experience made him never want to go to bars downtown again. I will not go and support a bar that discriminates.”

While there is a belief by several people that race plays a role at 100 Proof, owner David Ippisch maintains it is far from the truth. Ippisch, who opened the bar in 2013, contends it is all about following the mandated dress code.

“We’ve had a dress code since the day we opened,” Ippisch said. “Dress codes are the industry standard. Should we make exceptions for certain groups? Some people think so, but I’m not comfortable with that.”

Brandi Patterson, a junior from Jackson, Georgia, was quick to defend a bar’s right to a dress code but feels the code’s implementation is often skewed to keep black customers like herself outside.  

Ippisch argues the problem is people get emotional when not admitted.

 He can relate: He was not allowed in a bar in Las Vegas three years ago for not wearing a belt. He feels his experience mirrors what happens at his own bar.

“It’s a natural reaction to take it [personally],” Ippisch said. “I empathetically get it.  They [the bar] plain and simple had a dress code, and we do the exact same thing here.”

The bar’s staff reached out to Conley via 100 Proof’s Twitter account the day after his tweet. Conley tweeted out thanks to those who had contacted him and made efforts to remedy what occurred. Conley declined to comment when asked about the situation.

Ogletree, meanwhile, never heard from anyone at 100 Proof, and isn’t expecting to while he is still in Athens, he said. Ogletree graduated from the University on May 8, which to him means his bar-hopping days are over. That doesn’t mean he is opposed to some changes with 100 Proof and several of the other local bars.

“Every bar has a strict dress code, but the dress codes are directed at black people because of the type of clothes that you can’t wear in the bar,” Ogletree said. “I would like to see the dress codes disappear and just have people who pat you down before you go in the bar.”

Ippisch doesn’t see the situation like the picture Ogletree paints.

“If you visit the bar on any given night, you will see that’s completely false,” Ippisch said. “We have customers of all ethnicities and we also turn customers of all ethnicities away [if they violate dress code]. I would actually hope that this shows people how fair we try to be to everyone no matter who they are.”