Neon Cactus sued for race discrimination

A former general manager accuses the Neon Cactus of race discrimination in a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

The lawsuit is brought by Taylor Hardy, the former general manager of the Neon Cactus, who is suing for “discrimination against him on the basis or face and retaliation against him for his complaint of race discrimination.”

According to the lawsuit, Hardy began working for the Cactus in December 2022 and worked there until March 11, 2023, when he was fired for allegedly raising complaints about race discrimination with Ethan Brown, one of the owners.

“Specifically, he raised issues about discriminatory racial bias, racist comments and a work environment that was saturated with hostility toward African Americans who failed to satisfy (Ethan) Brown’s expectation that African Americans be assimilated to white Midwestern culture in order to fit into his bar,” said the lawsuit, filed against the bar's business name of EHB LLC.

“The claims against us are not true in any way,” Ethan Brown said Wednesday. “There's no ounce of racism that has gone on in the Neon Cactus in any way. ... These claims are all completely bogus.”

According to the lawsuit, owners Ethan and Angela Brown made several racist comments to Hardy during his time as the general manager.

“I can’t be racist, I have a black general manager,” Ethan Brown said, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also mentions that a DJ at the bar, Scott “Trey” Fisher, “noted the concerns about racist behavior from the bar’s ownership and the uncomfortable position it put him in.”

“Fisher’s discomfort centered upon the owners of the Neon Cactus …. scolding him for and/or forbidding him from playing 'black' music or 'banger' music.”

“We said play happier music,” Angela Brown said Wednesday afternoon. “Never did we say not to play 'black music.' I don't even know what 'black music' would be.

“We needed more upbeat music," she said, "and we were trying to gear it toward country more and he didn't like that.”

“With our concerts we've been having there once a month, in our country nights that we’ve been doing there, we have seen that with the huge amount of (agriculture) students at Purdue (and) the great response that we've gotten from that, that's the route we want to go,” Ethan Brown said.

The lawsuit alleges that in the conversation between Hardy and Fisher, Ethan Brown said, “One shooting shuts me down."

The lawsuit said Ethan Brown connected “black music” with violence.

In previous Exponent reporting this week, Angela Brown said they are planning to switch the bar to play more country music.

“We're trying to make it more of a concert venue and gear the music more toward country, more of what it used to be like,” Angela Brown said Tuesday. “A lot of the DJs are having trouble with that because they're accustomed to the music of today.”

Hardy allegedly confronted Ethan Brown about his comments and said the things he said were “ignorant” and “racist.” Brown also allegedly objected to being treated as “the token black manager.”

“Ethan Brown got defensive and fired Hardy for his complaint about the racist behavior exhibited by the owners of the Neon Cactus,” the lawsuit said.
“He's lying and saying that we fired him,” Angela Brown countered. “We have a police report saying he quit.”

The Exponent has not yet been able to independently verify the police report.
This news comes after Neon Cactus fired a DJ on Saturday.

According to Angela Brown, DJs at their establishment are W9’s, meaning they are contractors. According to Ethan Brown, Hardy was a salaried employee on payroll.

The Neon Cactus has 20 to 50 days to “answer” the lawsuit, according to Hardy's attorney, Jason Ramsland. After they respond, a pretrial hearing will be scheduled.

Hardy was reached out to for comment but deferred to his lawyer.

“Statistically, courts and lawyers and mediators will tell you that most claims don't go to trial, but I prepare for every one as though it will,” Ramsland said.

Angela and Ethan Brown have said that they have plans to meet with their lawyer to countersue.

“He won't leave my staff alone as the biggest thing,” Ethan Brown said. “And we would like him to just stay away from us and he will not.”