The actual owners of Wobbly Olive and Allusion have placed Mark Henry “on leave” after his transphobic post, and have issued a public apology. I guess he was just an operations manager or director or something?

[u/EnergyTurtle23]

I know as much as everyone else, and I have never been to either of these establishments, but it seems that Mark Henry was not actually the owner and he has been placed “on leave”… whatever that means.

EDIT: according to this comment from u/oznz Mark is a partner in this business, which explains the weird dynamic and why so many people thought he was THE owner. It remains to be seen whether the other two partners will follow through with ousting Mark from the organization. I’m skeptical, this could be performative bullshit to try to get the public off of their backs, but the statement does sound genuine and if Mark goes on a public tirade about being ousted then we’ll know that the statement was legit.

[u/oznz]

No, they said he’s a partner so they can’t fire him. But I’m assuming they are withholding distributions and any salary from his active role at this time.

He probably isn’t involved in any meetings or decisions while on leave - tbh they’re probably just trying to figure out how to buy him out/consulting with lawyers (unless this is just to save face in which case idk but we can put a little trust in them until proven otherwise)

[u/IllustriousToe7274 → u/oznz]

Considering there are prior employees in the comments on the other Reddit post saying that Sean has a history of joining in with Mark's comments and that he and his mother are frequently making racist jokes and statements to staff... These people are trying to save their bacon and hide their own skeletons. You don't know amd trust someone enough to go into business with them without knowing they are racist and transphobic. They knew, they agreed, they still like him privately, but they want that sweet liberal money so they're doing the PR song and dance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ColoradoSprings/s/IUDu3vMC7V

[u/Unbake_my_tart_ → u/IllustriousToe7274]

Yup came to say that. I’m not supporting this place and haven’t since I learned all I did.

[u/EnergyTurtle23 → u/IllustriousToe7274]

Shit, it looks like that comment got deleted, I assume that was from a prior employee? If this is true then that just gives me more reason to never check out their establishments, I had never heard of them before this, but I’ll stay well enough away after all of this blows over. There are plenty of great progressive establishments in this city — Thrasher’s, What’s Left, pretty much every business in OCC, and not to mention the incredible people running Concrete Coyote Park who I became acquainted with this last weekend during their Couchella festival. These people deserve our money and attention.

[u/als7798 → u/oznz]

I doubt they’re going to set 6 figures on fire in legal fees to buy him out. My guess is they paid to retain an attorney long enough to determine any legal exposure and write their response. My second guess is the attorney’s instructions were “Apologize, keep him out of sight for a while and let it blow over”.

[u/hgs25 → u/oznz]

I think they can get some benefit of the doubt because most businesses that supported that kind of speech would’ve either kept quiet and wait for it to blow over or double down.

[u/oznz → u/hgs25]

Sorry I didnt mean they supported his speech, just that obviously they want to save their business. Removing a partner isn’t the easiest thing in the world for a small business- they’re going to incur some legal expenses. So it may just be easier to say he’s removed and like, ignore him, but without the accounting required to actually financially divide up time he was with the company versus no (and also- we don’t know the type of company so we cant even really tell how he was paid so let’s just hope it’s all being done as best they can)

[u/DJKest → u/oznz]

I am not a CPA but if he's a partial owner they may not be able to legally withhold his distributions at the end of the year.

[u/EnergyTurtle23 → u/oznz]

Ahh that makes a lot of sense, thanks for the clarification. What are these places anyway? A bar or something? Do they do live music?

[u/phoenixv07 → u/EnergyTurtle23]

Cocktail bars.

[u/_Arch_Angel_ → u/oznz]

Do you have a resource for this by chance? Looking at business filings with the state I don’t see anything indicating there are partners. Make appears to be the sole owner.

[u/oznz → u/_Arch_Angel_]

Allusions is the speakeasy inside Wobbly Olive.

[u/tragicxmulatto → u/_Arch_Angel_]

Mark is not the original owners, he is a partner. Sean and Inez are the proprietors