Last week, Precious Walker, a driver for the delivery service Postmates, went to Johnson Family Barbecue to pick up an order.
But she says the woman at the counter, whom she identifies as Allison Johnson, snapped at her: “I told your goddamn boss to take me off there [sic] website,” Walker posted on Facebook on March 18.
Things got nasty from there.
“Well, I’m just a driver. No need to catch an attitude with me,” Walker says she replied.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Walker says Allison Johnson told her. “Y’all come in here after I told them to take me off, and y’all keep coming in here for deliveries.”
According to Walker’s post, they cursed at each other, then Allison Johnson—who owns the acclaimed Durham restaurant with her husband, Wayne, and who is identified in state records as Johnson Family Barbecue’s registered agent and manager—told her to leave the store, “and she follows me outside to fight me. … She like, ‘Bitch, fuck you, what you gonna do?’”
Walker says her daughter was in her car was this was happening. (Postmates no longer lists Johnson Family BBQ under available restaurants.)
After seeing Walker’s post, a woman named Noonie Jay left a one-star review on the restaurant’s Facebook page on March 20.
Wayne Johnson, the restaurant’s grillmaster and head chef, responded: “you a a fucking [N-word] cunt” [sic], according to screenshots of the exchange that Jay provided to the INDY and multiple commenters on the thread have verified.
The review has since been deleted.
These weren’t the only comments in that vein that Wayne Johnson made to Facebook critics, according to the screenshots. When someone criticized his staff for being rude, he replied, “Blow me.” Another time: “How about sucking my dick.” In a thread about delivery drivers: “Fuck delivery drivers.”
Later, Wayne Johnson sent Walker messages on Facebook threatening to sue her and Postmates over her account of her exchange with Allison Johnson, according to screenshots of the messages. Walker told the INDY that she was scared when she realized the restaurant’s owners repeatedly boasted that Durham police eat there.
A glance at Wayne Johnson’s public Facebook profile reveals that he’s a fan of President Trump and gun rights. He has shared memes calling the Bidens corrupt and President Obama America’s biggest mistake, as well as posts that might be construed as xenophobic, sexist, or racist. For instance, he shared a post calling for “America to shut down all Mosques and ban Islam.” He has also repeatedly shared stories flagged as “fake news.”
In addition, he posted this somewhat odd comment on January 16: “I’ve always wanted to take my wife to one of them restaurants where menstruals [sic] walk around to the tables.”
His most recent post shows him mugging with Senator Ted Cruz and right-wing congressional candidate Steve Von Loor, who will face U.S. Representative David Price in November.
Several of the comments on that post refer to Wayne Johnson as a “racist fuck” or a “racist twat.”
The INDY left messages on Allison Johnson’s voice mail and a Facebook message on the Johnson Family BBQ page that was marked read. The Johnsons did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Contact digital content manager Sara Pequeño at spequeno@indyweek.com.
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Sounds like a classy family
According to Google maps, anyway.
In 2018 Wayne Johnson called me a f*g in a comment on social media and made the usual vague threats one would expect from his ilk. It was because I criticized former Sheriff Mark Andrew’s for supporting ICE
I find it extremely interesting that the writer of this article chose to edit out “nigger” by calling it the N-word, but still chose to print “cunt.” Pretty obvious what group of people doesn’t matter to the writer.
“A glance at Wayne Johnson’s public Facebook profile reveals that he’s a fan of President Trump and gun rights.” uhhh why does this matter? It paints a bad picture of people that care about their constitutional rights. not every trump lover or gun owner is a racist like this dude and painting a picture like that is messed up, disingenuous and harmful. I voted for Hillary but I dont label everybody I disagree with in a negative fashion like this.
I’m talking about you trying to connect the POTUS to this asshole. Your as much a simpleton as this dickhead. Get a fucking clue.