Tuscaloosa City Council President Kip Tyner apologized after a social media post blaming people from Bessemer, Ensley, Lipscomb and other communities for overcrowding and arrests that shut down the Strip entertainment district near the University of Alabama campus following Saturday’s A-Day spring football game.
Tuscaloosa Police closed the Strip around 6 p.m. Saturday due to overcrowding, blocking vehicle traffic along University Boulevard and instructing people to leave the area or go inside open businesses. Police said more than 15 arrests were made, including charges for disorderly conduct, drug possession and underage drinking. At least one firearm was recovered from an underage individual. Tyner posted on Facebook shortly after the shutdown, writing, “It’s not locals or UA students — it’s folks from Lipscomb, Bessemer, Ensley, Hale County causing crap. Get rid of A Day. Sad.”
The post drew immediate backlash, with some calling the remarks racist. Tyner deleted the post and replaced it with an apology minutes later.
“I’m apologizing if anyone took offense to my post about the closing of the strip,” Tyner wrote. “My intentions were not to offend anyone.” He said the communities he named came from police, not from him.
In a subsequent interview with WVUA-TV, Tyner said he was not targeting any particular race. “I think some people felt that the cities I named, that I was targeting one race, but I was not,” Tyner said. “I was targeting the people who came to cause nothing but trouble.”
Tuscaloosa Executive Director of Public Safety Brent Blankley said the crowd included a large number of juveniles, many too young to enter any of the bars or businesses on the Strip. Blankley said the crowd included a large portion of out-of-town visitors but added that many of the juveniles were from Tuscaloosa as well.
Saturday marked the fourth consecutive year the Strip has been shut down after the A-Day game. Blankley said the city is reviewing what happened and considering possible changes for future events.
