05-11-2007, 01:57 AM
Quote:- Jeff Ruby isn't shy around celebrities.
The restaurateur is known for cultivating friendships with the famous people who visit his steakhouses, a list that includes Kid Rock, Star Jones and Rick Pitino.
But on the eve of Saturday's Kentucky Derby, Ruby drew the line at the infamous when O.J. Simpson walked into his Louisville restaurant without a reservation.
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"I just went over the to table (and) I looked at him and said, 'I'm not serving you,' and he just sat there and looked at me," Ruby said. "I said it again, I said, 'I'm not serving you.'"
Simpson, who was acquitted in criminal court in 1995 of the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, has eaten at other Ruby steakhouses. In fact, his photo used to be on the wall at one of them.
"His picture was on the wall but I took it down because I believe he murdered those people," Ruby said. "He beheaded the wife, the mother of his children."
Ruby said Simpson, an NFL Hall of Famer, was a good sport as he left the Louisville steakhouse, but his date started making a scene, saying it's a free country.
"After she got done, in my face with, 'It's a free country,' I said, 'Listen, you're blonde if I was you, you better be careful. He might slit your throat,'" Ruby said. "Then she went into the not guilty verdict."
Ruby said patrons gave him a standing ovation after Simpson was booted.
"I was a linebacker in high school and college," Ruby said. "But I never tackled O.J. Simpson."
Ruby said he had no regrets.
"I felt good for the Goldmans and the Brown family," he said.
Ruby said that when Simpson left, Michael Jordan walked in with a party of 30 and took his table.
Simpson attorney Yale Galanter said the incident was about race, and he intends to pursue the matter and possibly go after the restaurant's liquor license.
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